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Trooper 3809 

A Private Soldier of the 
Third Republic 



By / 
Lionel Deck 



New York 
Charles Scribner's Sons 










40835 

Copyright, 1899, by 
Charles Scribner's Sons 



Trow Directory 

Printing and Bookbinding Company 

New York 



^V^ o ^ <^^^vl"iJoi^ . 



NOTE 

It is right to state that the following pages have 
not had the advantage of final revision by the 
Author, as Mr. Decle started on a mission of 
African exploration without having completed 
the preparation of his MS. for the press 



PREFACE 

The bitter and protracted discussions which have arisen 
out of the Dreyfus case, and which have divided France 
into two hostile camps, have concentrated the attention of 
the civiHzed world on the French army, but nobody has 
done more to disgrace it, and to lower it in the eyes of 
friends and foes alike, than Frenchmen themselves. 

Those who, persuaded of Dreyfus' innocence, made 
superhuman efforts to further the noble cause of justice 
and to obtain the redress of one of the greatest wrongs 
ever committed against a human being, spoiled their noble 
task by indiscriminate and wholesale abuse of the army 
in general, holding the thousands of French officers re- 
sponsible for the conduct of a few of their number. Those, 
on the other hand, who believed in the guilt of Dreyfus, 
based their conviction upon their blind belief in the infal- 
libility of half a dozen officers who had passed judgment 
upon the condemned man. Trusting to unworthy subor- 
dinates, the highest officers of the General Staff made of 
Dreyfus' guilt a matter on which they staked their own 
honour and reputation, and when they discovered that 
they had been deceived, they found themselves in the posi- 
tion of having either to acknowledge that they had been 

vii 



PREFACE 

befooled, or else of having to stand by those who had led 
them into their awkward predicament. They chose the 
latter alternative, and their friends and supporters played 
into the hands of those who so fiercely attacked the army, 
by refusing to admit that there could be a single black 
sheep in it, and by thus linking together the whole body 
of French officers and making their collective honour de- 
pendent on the honour of every individual member. 

A time came, however, when even the most determined 
partizans of this system had to turn against those they had 
extolled but the day before. First came Esterhazy, the 
liar, the swindler, and the traitor ; then Henry the forger, 
and de Paty du Clam, his accomplice. 

It is a remarkable fact that amidst all these scenes of 
violent abuse there should be but one man who maintained 
implicit trust in the good faith of his worst enemies — 
Dreyfus himself — the victim of this most abominable con- 
spiracy. 

His case is, unfortunately, but a greatly magnified ex- 
ample of what daily happens throughout the French army, 
and the recollections I am now offering to the reader, of 
the time I served in its ranks, will show that Dreyfus has 
been a victim not so much of the malice of individuals as 
of a faulty system. It will be seen how, in a regiment, the 
Colonel forms his opinion of a private from the character 
given to him by his Corporal or Sergeant, and how the 
mere fact of appealing against a punishment is considered 

viii 



PREFACE 

as an act of insubordination. It is always the same prin- 
ciple — le respect de la chose jugee (the upholding of a 
judgment, without considering upon what grounds or evi- 
dence it has been delivered). 

I wish it to be clearly understood that this little book 
has not been written for the purpose of attacking the 
French army as represented by its officers. It is intended 
merely as a faithful account of the hardships I endured 
when I served my time in the ranks — hardships which 
every Frenchman has still to bear. I cannot follow M. 
Urbain Gobier in his virulent and indiscriminate attacks 
upon all French officers — among whom individuals differ 
as in other classes of men ; but each one of my readers 
will be able to draw his own conclusions with regard to 
the system which, in practice, is universally in force. 



IX 



INTRODUCTION 



Every Frenchman is liable to military service during 
twenty-five years of his life — viz., from the age of twenty 
until he is forty-five.* 

In time of peace this period of service is thus divided : 

(i) Three years of active service. 

(ii) Ten years in the reserve of the standing army, dur- 
ing which two periods of a month each with the colours 
must be undergone. 

(iii) Six years in the territorial army, with two periods 
of thirteen days each with the colours, and 

(iv) Six years in the reserve of the territorial army. 

The conscription lists are thus made out : 

Every year the Mayor of each " Commune " draws up a 
list of all the young men who have arrived at the age of 
twenty during the past twelve months. 

These lists must be posted up by January 14 at the 
latest. The names of the sons of foreigners, if born in 
France, are included, and unless they claim foreign 
nationality they are liable to serve, and on failing to do so 
when called upon are regarded as deserters and punished 
accordingly. 

* For full particulars see " Loi du 15 Juillet 1889, sur la Recrute- 
ment de I'Armee." Librairie Militaire L. Baudoin, 30 rue Dauphine, 
Paris. 

I 



INTRODUCTION 

Domicile is established by the parents' residence. 

Every year the War Minister fixes the number of con- 
scripts required to serve three years with the colours; 
those in excess of that number are called upon to serve for 
one year. only; but during the following two years they 
are liable to be called upon to complete their time of active 
service. 

In order to determine those who are to benefit by this 
arrangement tirage an sort (drawing lots) is resorted to. 

In time of peace, conscripts falling under any of the fol- 
lowing categories among others are also called upon to 
serve for one year only : 

(a) The eldest of orphans, or the eldest son of a widow, 
or of a family whose father is blind, or has reached his 
seventieth year. 

(b) The only son in a family of seven children or more 
— or the eldest son of a family of at least seven. 

(c) The elder of twins. 

(d) Brothers of men engaged in active service. 

(e) Brothers of a man who has been killed, or who has 
died in active service, or who has been invalided on ac- 
count of disease contracted, or wounds received, while 
serving. 

(/) Young men who have signed an engagement to 
serve during ten years as teachers in the National schools. 

(g) Students in law, science, or medicine who have al- 
ready obtained their admission to the Government Uni- 
versities or other institutions mentioned in the Act. 

(h) Students of the religious institutions who are study- 
ing to become ministers of one of the religions recognised 
by the State. 

Provided that, in classes (/), (g), (h), such young 
men have obtained their final degree before their twenty- 
sixth year, or that religious students have been ordained 

2 



INTRODUCTION 

before the end of their twenty-sixth year, faihng which, 
they are called upon to complete three years' active ser- 
vice. 

Whoever has been convicted of theft, obtaining money 
by false pretences, rape, and other crimes against morals, 
and has been sentenced to more than three months' im- 
prisonment for such crimes, or has been sentenced twice 
for similar offences, is sent to special battalions in Algeria. 
If, at the time a conscript is called upon to serve, he is un- 
dergoing imprisonment, he begins his service at the ex- 
piration of his sentence. 

Instead of joining their regiment like other conscripts, 
these men have to report themselves on a certain date at the 
headquarters of the military district to which they belong, 
and they are thence taken by gendarmes to the depot of 
their battalion. They are subjected to an iron discipline, 
being commanded by officers and non-commissioned of- 
ficers picked out from other regiments where they have 
distinguished themselves for their harshness. Many are 
the tales of dreadful revenge taken by these conscripts on 
their officers. It is no uncommon thing for a few of them 
to play away the life of an officer at cards, the loser being 
obliged to kill him w^ithin a certain time. To quote but 
a single instance : A few years ago one of these battalions 
was being marched from Biskra to Tuggurt in Southern 
Algeria. Before leaving, four of the men had played 
away the life of their Major at cards. The loser, who was 
to carry out the deed, pretended to be ill, and kept to the 
rear of the column. On the second day he kept still farther 
back, and sat down pretending to be exhausted. The 
Major, who had fallen far behind, seeing the man, spoke 
to him kindly, telling him to make an effort. " Oh, sir," 
said the soldier, '' I can't ; I am done for." The Major 
kindly handed the man his flask to take a pull from, and 

3 



INTRODUCTION 

as he was replacing it in his holster, the man fired his 
rifle point blank at his officer. Fortunately the horse 
swerved, and the bullet missed. Thereupon the Major 
drew his revolver, and blew the ruffian's brains out. A 
few months later a stone was found on the spot bearing 
this inscription: 

PI ERE 

On the ioth of December i8 — 

Private 

Was murdered by Major X. 

The man who placed the stone there was never dis- 
covered, and, although it was removed by order of the 
military authorities, another one bearing a similar inscrip- 
tion soon afterwards stood in its place. Six times these 
stones were removed, and six times they were replaced, 
yet the guilty parties were never detected. It is hardly 
to be wondered at if the officers of these battalions usually 
carry loaded revolvers. 

To return to our description of the mode of recruit- 
ing. 

The lists having been duly posted up, a day is appointed 
for drawing the lots. This public ceremony is presided 
over by the " Sous-prefet " of the " Arrondissement." 
Having counted the number of names on the list, the Sous- 
prefet places a corresponding number of tickets, each 
bearing a number, in an urn : he then calls out the names 
of the young men, and each in turn draws a ticket ; in case 
of absence of one of them his lot is drawn by the Mayor. 
As already explained only a certain number of men being 
required to serve three years, those who draw the highest 
numbers stand a chance of serving for but twelve months, 
besides those who have a right to claim the privilege, al- 
though the latter are also bound to draw lots. 

4 



INTRODUCTION 

All the young men whose names appear in the lists have 
next to appear before a Conseil de Revision (Revising 
Commission). 

This Commission consists of : 

The Prefect of the Department, who is ex-officio 

President. 
A Conseiller de Prefecture. 
A Member of the Conseil General. 
A Member of the Conseil d'arrondissement. 
A General or Field Officer appointed by the military 

authority. 
An Intendant militaire (Commissariat officer). 
The chief Recruiting Officer of the district. 
A military Surgeon, or a Doctor, is appointed by the 
military authorities to make a medical examination of all 
the conscripts, and upon his report the Commission de- 
cides by vote whether each individual conscript shall serve 
or not. It should be added that the minimum height is 
5 feet yz inch. 

The Commission also decides upon claims of exemption 
made by sons of foreigners, and upon the claims of those 
entitled to a service of one year only.* 

Each conscript subsequently receives his feuille de 
route, stating the regiment he must join, and the date on 
w^hich he must join it, and making an allowance for his 
journey to the town where he is to be quartered. f From 
the moment conscripts receive their feiiilles de route they 
are under military law, and can only be tried by court- 
martial for any crimes or offences they may commit. 

Men while serving for a month in the reserve, or for a 
fortnight in the territorial army, are also exclusively under 

' All who for any cause are considered unfit for service have to pay a 
yearly tax of 6 francs and an additional tax proportionate to their means, 
t Soldiers pay one-third of ordinary fares on French railways. 

5 



INTRODUCTION 

martial law for the time beins^. Even in the case of a 
soldier who has finished his service the fact of his assault- 
ing one of his former superiors (from a Corporal up- 
wards) renders him liable to be tried by court-martial 
" should such assault be considered the result of revenge 
for a punishment received during his service." — (Art. 223 
and 224 of the Code of Military Justice.) So that a man 
who has been abominably treated during his time of service 
and who gives a good hiding to one of his former officers 
ten or twenty years later, is liable to be tried by the military 
authorities. 

I may add here that the act of striking a siipcrieur, 
meaning any man superior in rank to one's self, from a 
Corporal upwards, is punished with death, even in time 
of peace. Two instances occurred while I served. In the 
first instance a private had struck a Corporal who had 
bullied him in a most shameful way ; in the second in- 
stance a Corporal had struck an officer who had called his 
mother by a vile name. Both men were found guilty and 
publicly shot in the presence of their regiment on special 
parade. It very seldom occurs that a man who has struck 
even a Corporal is reprieved. 

In each subdivision of every military district is kept a 
register in which are inscribed the names of all the men 
in that subdivision who are serving, or have served. 

In this register is stated the date at which each man 
has been incorporated, as well as the date of his leaving 
the service, the date of his passing into the reserve, then 
into the territorial army and into the reserve of the terri- 
torial army, until he has satisfied all his military obliga- 
tions. Every change of address is also noted. 

Every soldier receives on joining his regiment a livret 
matricide, a book in which are stated his age, his name, 
the address of his parents, his full description, the list of 

6 



INTRODUCTION 

all the punishments he has received, and many other par- 
ticulars. 

It is of the utmost importance for every Frenchman to 
keep this book carefully, as it has to be produced when- 
ever required by the military, civil, or judicial authorities, 
and its loss entails several days' imprisonment. When- 
ever a Frenchman — until he has reached the age of forty- 
five and has thus satisfied all his military obligations — 
wishes to absent himself from his domicile he is bound to 
present his livret at the nearest gendarmerie and to de- 
clare where he is going : this is written down in his livret, 
and on arrival at his new residence he must have this book 
" vise " anew. If he goes abroad he must present it to the 
French Consul, and whenever he changes his residence for 
more than three months, he must repeat the operation ex- 
actly after the fashion of a ticket-of-leave man in England. 
To omit to do so renders^the offender liable to imprison- 
ment. It is therefore easy to realise the tremendous power 
of the military authorities in France. 



II 

The military law I have just explained is that which has 
been in force since 1889 only. It differs from the previous 
law chiefly in regard to the length of service. In my time 
(1879) the period of service in the active army was five 
years instead of three. Young men, however, who had 
obtained the degrees of B.A. or B.S., provided they paid 
£60 to Government, and provided also they contracted a 
voluntary engagement within the year preceding that in 
which they became liable to conscription, were allowed to 
serve only one year instead of five. During the next four 
years they still belonged, however, to the active army, and 

7 



INTRODUCTION 

were liable to be called at any time by decree of the War 
Minister. These young men were officially called Engages 
conditionnels, but commonly termed Volontaires d'un an, 
or by abbreviation Volontaires. It is as such that I served. 

I have roughed it a good deal since those days, but I 
have no hesitation in saying that the time of my active 
service with the colours was the bitterest experience I 
ever underwent. 

In the case of a nation which possesses no public schools 
like the great institutions of England, I believe that com- 
pulsory military service might be made an excellent moral 
and physical training for young men in every rank of life. 
But the French system is vicious. A system in which gen- 
tlemen of refinement and the vilest dregs of the city slums 
are subjected to identical treatment, and ruled by identical 
measures of discipline, is an impossible one. Take pun- 
ishments, for instance. " Equality of punishment " may 
sound well in theory, but in practice it becomes the rankest 
inequality. A gentleman accustomed to comfort, or per- 
haps luxury, is for the slightest fault sent to the Salle de 
Police to endure the degrading horrors presently to be de- 
scribed — his companions are perhaps roughs who have 
never slept in a bed since they were children, to whom dirt 
is a mere necessary condition, and vermin are " familiar 
beasts." 

Where is the equality of punishment in such a case ? 

It must not be thought either that some compensation 
lies in the comparative infrequency of the punishments 
meted out to gentlemen. The contrary is the truth. For 
an equal fault the rough usually gets a shorter punishment 
than the man of higher class. 

The German system is very different. In Germany they 
also have the reduced service of one year for young men 
who have fulfilled certain conditions of superior education. 

8 



INTRODUCTION 

But these ein jahr preiviller, as they are called, form a class 
absolutely distinct from the other privates, and are dis- 
tinguished by a uniform of better cloth. During the first 
month of their service they live in barracks, where they 
learn the routine of a common soldier's duties, but after- 
wards they are allowed lodgings in the town where their 
regiment is quartered, and they are altogether treated dif- 
ferently from the rest. 

Then, again, in the German army non-commissioned 
officers cannot punish a private, the Captain alone having 
the right of punishment, while in the French army a Cor- 
poral could give us two days' Salic de Police; a Sergeant, 
four; a Sergeant-major, a Sub-lieutenant, or a Lieuten- 
ant, eight ; and a Captain could send us to prison. Each 
of those punishments was usually increased by the Major, 
and also by the Colonel, and it will scarcely be credited 
that no man could appeal against a punisJunent until he 
had undergone the zvhole of it. Things have altered a lit- 
tle since General Boulanger was Minister of War, but 
very slightly. There is still no higher appeal than to the 
Colonel, and such a thing as a private or even an officer 
having the right to ask for a court-martial in case he con- 
siders himself unjustly punished does not exist. But more 
of this in the sequel. 

ni 

In order to enable readers to understand clearly the 
account of my adventures, I think it will be necessary to 
describe somewhat fully the routine of a French cavalry 
regiment, as well as the rights and duties of officers, non- 
commissioned officers, and privates. 

Any one desiring further particulars can obtain them 
from a little book called " Reglement du Service Interieur 

9 



INTRODUCTION 

ties troupes de Cavalerie." (Paris : Librairie Militaire dc 
L. Baudoin, 30 rue Dauphine.) 

The following are the titles of the officers and non-com- 
missioned officers of a French cavalry regiment, with the 
duties and responsibiHties which theoretically devolve 
upon them. How far those duties are carried out will ap- 
pear in the course of my narrative. 



COLONEL. 

(Five Gold Stripes.) 

The authority of the Colonel extends over every part of 
the service. He is responsible for the discipline, military 
education, instruction, police, hygiene, and appearance of 
the regiment he commands. He directs its administration 
with the help of a " Conseil d'administration." He ap- 
points all non-commissioned officers, and Corporals. 

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL. 
(Three Gold and Two Silver Stripes.) 

" The Lieutenant-colonel is the intermediary of the 
Colonel in every branch of the service. He acts on behalf 
of the Colonel in the absence of the latter. . . . When 
thus acting he states that the orders are the Colonel's, so 
that the authority of the latter should be sustained. . . ." 

" Among the books he has to keep are those containing 
the individual notes on each officer, in which are entered 
twice yearly the punishments inflicted on each officer, and 
information as to their military as well as private conduct, 
their instruction, and military aptitude. These notes are 
countersigned by the Colonel, who adds whatever remarks 
he thinks fit. . . ." 

10 



INTRODUCTION 

CHEFS D'ESCADRONS (Majors). 
(Four Gold Stripes.) 

There are two of these in each regiment, each command- 
ing two squadrons. 

" The ' Chefs d'Escadrons ' see that the Captains com- 
manding their squadrons carry out their duties, as well as 
the Colonel's orders, with zeal and intelligence. . . . 

" One of them presides over the Coinmission des or- 
dinaires ( food supply) . The other presides over the Com- 
ijiission d'abatagc (k'lU'mg oi horses). . . ." 

Each of them has also to look carefully into the service 
of the kitchens of their squadrons, and they must fre- 
quently visit the canteens. 

They take in turns the weekly duty and are in charge 
of the general police of barracks. Under their orders 
they have for this service a Captain and an Adjudant. 

MAJOR. 
(Tzuo Gold and Tzvo Silver Stripes.) 

The duties of this officer are chiefly connected with the 
general administration of the regiment — accounts, pur- 
chases, pay, equipment, barrack furniture, &c. He is in 
command of the 5th squadron,* which forms the depot in 
case of war. 

CAPITAINE INSTRUCTEUR. 

The Capitaine Instructeur is chiefly concerned with the 
instruction of the non-commissioned officers. He also 
gives the Lieutenants and Sub-lieutenants lectures on 
shooting, artillery, topography, hippology, &c., and has to 
teach the Adjudants (to be described later) their duties. 

* French cavalry regiments have five squadrons. 
II 



INTRODUCTION 



CAPITAINE TRESORIER (Paymaster). 

He receives all moneys for the use of the regiment ; he 
makes all payments authorised by the Council of Adminis- 
tration, of which he is a member. 

He keeps the " archives " of the regiment. Every five 
days he hands over the pay to the Captain commanding 
each squadron or to his Sergeant-major, and issues the 
demand for forage supplied through the " Intendant " (an 
official apart from the regiment). 

Under him he has a Deputy, a Lieutenant, or Sub- 
lieutenant. 

CAPITAINE D'HABILLEMENT. 

This Captain is in charge of the armoury, clothing, and 
barrack furniture, keeping all accounts relating to the 
same. 

All the regimental workshops are under his orders : the 
chief armourer, the master saddler, the master tailor, and 
master bootmaker. 

Under this officer is : 



THE PORTE ETENDARD. 

A Lieutenant who helps generally his immediate chief, 
and carries the colours on parade. 



DOCTORS. 

Two Doctors are attached to each cavalry regiment — a 
mcdccin major (captain-surgeon) and medecin aide major 
(lieutenant-surgeon). Their duties are similar to those 
of regimental doctors in an English regiment. 

12 



INTRODUCTION 



VETERINARY SURGEONS. 

Two Veterinary Surgeons are attached to each regi- 
ment, and their duties need not be described here. 

CAPITAINES (Captains). 
(Three Stripes.) 

There are two Captains in each squadron — the Captain 
Commanding (capitainc commandant) and a second Cap- 
tain (capitaine en second). 

Captain Commanding. — This officer is in full charge 
of the squadron (in time of peace a squadron consists of 
about 120 men and horses) ; he is the real chief and almost 
the only one the non-commissioned officers and men of his 
squadron know, many of them leaving the service with- 
out having ever been spoken to by such an exalted and 
god-like being as a Major, much less by their Lieutenant- 
colonel or Colonel. The Captain in command is himself 
a very great man indeed, who has very little intercourse 
with such riff-raff as common privates. No leave nor pro- 
motion can be obtained except through him, and punish- 
ments are usually increased when they reach His Mighti- 
ness. When I served my time I think I saw my Captain 
nearly twenty times in as many months, but nevertheless 
I must show what his duties are — in theory. Let us quote 
once more from the '' Service Interieur." 

*' The chief duty of the Captain Commanding is to in- 
spire the soldiers under his command with zeal and 
love [ !] of the service; to develop among them feelings 
of duty, honour, and devotion to their Fatherland. He 
must endeavour to make their duties easy by advice, the 
equitable use of his authority, and a constant solicitude for 
their welfare. He is the necessary intermediary of all their 

13 



INTRODUCTION 

requests. ... He must repress the familiarity and 
harshness of his subordinates towards the privates, who 
must never be iUtreated or insulted." 

He has also to look after the officers under his direct 
orders. '' He visits his squadron daily, visits the men in 
hospital, and signs a daily report to the Colonel." 

" He is responsible for the military education of his 
squadron, for the discipline of the rank and file, the con- 
dition of the horses and stables. . . ." 

He is also responsible for the moneys and supplies 
handed over to him. 

The Captain receives from the Treasurer the money for 
the use of the squadron on the ist, 6th, nth, i6th, 2ist, 
and 26th of each month. This money is divided into two 
parts : the first being the money to be spent on the men's 
food, and the second being the men's pocket-money, 
" which," say the regulations, " must not be less than 5 
centimes (/^d.) per day." The money invariably handed 
over to the men is 2^c/. every five days in the infantry, and 
4d. every five days in the cavalry ! Corporals get about 
twice as much, while Sergeants get about 4d. a day, and 
Sergeant-majors Sd. What would Tommy Atkins say to 
that ? 

All the accounts and books are kept by the Sergeant- 
major, the Sergeant fourricr, and the Corporal fourricr, 
non-commissioned officers whose duties vv^ill be described 
more fully later on. All clothes, saddlery, arms, &c., are 
supplied to the men in the presence of the Captain : all 
repairs are done on his written requisition. 

When the men's food is supplied through the Commis- 
sion des ordinaires the Captain finds every day the amount 
of supplies required. When, however, he receives money 
for the purchase of provisions he must see that supplies 
are bought at the cheapest rate. 

14 



INTRODUCTION 

The daily rations for each private are as follows : 

Ten ounces of meat (bone included). 

One pound of bread for soup, which is reduced to 3J2 
ounces if stew is served instead of soup. 

In the same way the ration of meat is reduced if fish, 
lard, or preserves are given to the men. 

The Captain in Command assigns a horse to each 
trooper, and has to see that the horses are kept in good 
condition. He reports on all matters to his Major. 

Second Captain. — The duties of this officer are two- 
fold : first, in the squadron, and secondly, as Captain on 
regimental duty for the week — '* Captain of the Week." 

In the squadron he is under the orders of the Captain 
Commanding, but he is specially in charge of all matters 
connected with the food supply. 

In case of the absence of the Captain Commanding he 
takes the command of the squadron. The five Second 
Captains take " the week " by turn. The *' Captain of the 
Week " is under the immediate orders of the '' Major of 
the Week." He has to see to the roll-calls, the assemblies, 
and the changing of guards. He is in charge of the cells, 
and is responsible for the cleanliness of the barracks, and 
their police and security. The evening roll-call takes place 
in the rooms, and is made by each Sergeant-major, who 
hands over his report to the Adjudant, who makes out a 
general bulletin and hands it over to the '' Captain of the 
Week." This Captain may order extra roll-calls in the 
middle of the night should he think fit to do so. 

LIEUTENANTS AND SUB-LIEUTENANTS. 

There are four of these in each squadron, and they take 
in turn the " weekly service " {service de sentaine). As 
such they must be, or ought to be, present at '* stables," 

15 



INTRODUCTION 

drill, &c. Let us quote again from the " Service In- 
terieur " : " They must maintain perfect order in their 
peloton" [company] " excite emulation among their men, 
advise union " [the only union I ever saw was in the 
hatred all the men felt against them], '' develop the love 
of service, and always show an impartial example of jus- 
tice." [But wait until I tell my own story.] '' The chief 
of a pcloton visits it daily. He inquires into everything 
relating to it. . . . 

" He sees to the cleanliness of his men " [mine must 
have had peculiar ideas on the subject]. ..." Often 
and without warning he inspects the clothes of a man 
whom he suspects of bad conduct. 

" He passes constant reviews of the men's effects " 
[doesn't he], *' and when a man returns after an absence 
of fifteen days or more he inspects his kit. : . ." 

He does many other things — in theory — but chiefly acts 
on the principle that rules are made to be broken. 

PETIT ETAT MAJOR AND PELOTON HORS RANG. 

Under these titles are known all the skilled assistants 
(whether non-commissioned officers or troopers) who are 
employed as clerks in the offices of the Treasurer, and 
other officers employed in the various administrative ser- 
vices of the regiment. The Capitaine d'habillement acts 
as their Captain Commandant. 

ADJUDANTS. 

The Adjudants, although non-commissioned officers, 
wear the uniform of a Sub-lieutenant, the only difference 
being that their galoons are striped with a small red thread. 
They receive from the troopers and other non-commis- 
sioned officers the same marks of respect as officers. 

i6 



INTRODUCTION 

There are three Adjudants in each cavalry regiment. 
The first two are the Adjudants proper, while the third 
{Adjudant vaguemestre) has different duties. The two 
Adjudants have under their immediate authority all the 
Sergeants and Corporals so far as the discipline and the 
general police of barracks are concerned. They have to 
keep watch over the private conduct and appearance of the 
Sergeants. 

They take " the week " in turn under the immediate 
orders of the *' Captain of the Week." All strangers wish- 
ing to enter the barracks are referred to him when he takes 
*' the week." The Adjudant receives from the one he has 
relieved : 

(i) The list of all Sergeants and Corporals, so as to 
arrange their rotation of duty ; 

(2) The list of the various Sergeants and Corporals 
who take '' the week " at the same time as himself ; 

(3) The register of punishments of non-commissioned 
officers and troopers, on which he inscribes all punish- 
ments of two days or more of Salic de Police, or confine- 
ment to the room, or of four days or more C.B. ; 

(4) The list of men under punishment, which he hands 
over to the Sergeant of the Guard. 

He posts up in the orderly room the list of the officers, 
Sergeants, and Corporals ** of the week." 

He is responsible for all trumpet calls. 

The Colonel's orders and decisions are handed over to' 
him for dictation to the various Sergeant-majors, by 
whom they are read aloud to the troopers of each squad- 
ron, after afternoon '' stables." 

He conveys the General's orders to the Colonel. Every 
morning after reveille each Sergeant-major hands over to 
him a report on the morning roll-call, but this call never 
actually takes place in the cavalry. 

17 



INTRODUCTION 

At the same time the Sergeant of the Guard hands over 
to him the register bearing the names of all troopers who 
have returned to barracks after the last roll-call (9 p.m.)/'' 
and he reports on these to the " Captain of the Week." 

He sees that the canteens are closed at the proper time, 
and that lights are extinguished in the rooms at 10 p.m. 
He has besides the general control of all men undergoing 
punishment. 

It will thus be seen what enormous power the Adjiidant 
has. With his connivance a trooper may absent himself 
for three or four days without any one being the wiser. 
Let a Sergeant or a Sergeant-major dare to report the 
matter to the Captain and he will soon discover what it 
will cost him. How I made use of the Adjiidant will be 
seen when I describe my personal adventures. " Stand 
well with your Sergeant-major and one of the Adjudants 
and you are all right," is a well-known saying in the 
French cavalry. 

The Adjudant-vagiiemestre is really the regimental 
postmaster and postman ; he collects letters, cashes money- 
orders for the troopers, and does all sorts of dirty work 
others don't care to undertake ; he acts as Sergeant-major 
to the Peloton hors rang, and is usually chosen from among 
old Sergeants who are unfit for anything else. 

Of the skilled artisans, armourers, saddlers, tailors, &c., 
little or nothing need be said, as they are soldiers but in 
name. 

Let us now return to the true inner life of a regiment, 
the squadron and its units. 

* It was 8 P.M. in my time. 



18 



INTRODUCTION 

SERGEANT-MAJOR (Marechal de Logis Chef). 

The Sergeant-major is the right hand of the Captain 
commanding a squadron. In theory he is, of course, far 
below a Lieutenant or Sub-lieutenant ; in practice — at 
least in most squadrons — he is the real head of the squad- 
ron in barracks. He is in hourly contact with the Ser- 
geants, Corporals, and troopers, and it is through the Ser- 
geant-major that the Captain judges them. Most 
Sergeant-majors will send a man to prison in the Captain's 
name, knowing well that the latter will approve of and 
endorse their decision. 

" The Sergeant-major," says the " Service Interieur," 
" must study the conduct, the character, and the capabili- 
ties of the Sergeants, Corporals, and troopers of his 
squadron, in order to give information to the officers, and 
chiefly to the Captain commanding the squadron. He 
gives all orders with regard to duty, dress, and discipline. 
. . . He is the Captain's agent in all matters of adminis- 
tration and accounts, he is responsible for the proper keep- 
ing of all books, registers, &c., and for the proper state 
of all the mater ial belonging to the squadron. 

" The Sergeant fourrier and Corporal fourrier do the 
clerical work under his immediate supervision. He is re- 
sponsible for the proper keeping of the squadron stores 
and must supervise the reception, distribution or return of 
every article, whatever may be its nature. . . ." The 
Sergeant of the Week hands over to him the list of all sick 
men and reports to him on every roll-call. 

" It is through him that all applications of the Sergeants, 
Corporals, or troopers must be addressed ; after informing 
the Lieutenant he submits these applications to the Cap- 
tain. Troopers cannot, without his leave, change their 
rotation of duty." 

19 



INTRODUCTION 

SERGEANT (Marechal des Logis). 

'' The Sergeants give the Corporals and troopers all 
orders relating to duty, police, discipline, and military in- 
struction." They take in turn the duty '' of the week " in 
their squadron. Sergeants drill the men of their peloton, 
and are responsible to their Lieutenant for the horses of 
their peloton. 

They have to take particular care that the rooms are 
kept in proper order, that the men have their clothes prop- 
erly cleaned and arranged above their beds, and that no 
article of their kit is missing ; they take care that the arms 
and saddlery are always kept in perfect order; they are 
responsible for the cleanliness of their men, seeing that 
their clothes are duly mended, and that they are frequently 
shaved and have their hair cropped short. 

Whenever the peloton is ordered to assemble, the Ser- 
geant passes through the rooms to see that the troopers 
are getting ready. If the peloton has to be mounted, the 
Sergeant sees that the horses are properly saddled. He 
always superintends " stables " and sees that the horses 
are properly groomed. When the peloton is ordered to 
assemble singly, he calls the roll and reports to the Lieu- 
tenant in command ; in case, however, the whole squadron 
is ordered out, he reports to the Sergeant-major. 

" Sergeant of the Week." — The Sergeant of the 
Week is under the direct orders of the officer " of the 
week " and seconds him in every way. 

He reports on the morning and evening roll-calls to the 
Sergeant-major, and hands over to him the list of the sick 
troopers. At the daily parade of the squadron he notes all 
duties which are ordered and designates the troopers for 
the fatigues and distributions. After reveille he goes to 
the stables and superintends their cleaning and airing ; he 

20 



INTRODUCTION 

must see that all head-stalls and stable utensils are in 
proper order; he transmits to the stable guards their 
orders, and sees that these are punctually executed. In 
case of the sickness of a horse he sends at once for the 
Vet. 

The Sergeant of the Week also keeps the key of the 
oat-bin and is responsible for the proper distribution of 
its contents as well as of forage. Before the time fixed 
for the assembly of the guard of the day he sees that the 
troopers who have been ordered for such duty are properly 
turned out. He then escorts them to the place which has 
been fixed for the parade. He takes to the cells the 
troopers who are to be punished, and those who are sick 
to the Doctor's inspection. 

He has to see that all corridors, staircases, and rooms of 
his squadron are kept clean, and swept twice daily. 

SERGENT FOURRIER. 

The Sergeant fourricr is under the direct orders of the 
Sergeant-major, keeping all books and accounts under his 
supervision ; he receives besides, on his behalf, all sup- 
plies, and is responsible for them. He escorts every man 
sent to hospital. 

CAPORAL FOURRIER. 

This N.C.O. helps generally the Sergeant foiirrier. He 
enters in a book all the orders issued by the Colonel, and 
takes it to each officer of the squadron; he reads these 
orders out to the assembled troopers after afternoon 
" stables." 



21 



INTRODUCTION 

CORPORALS. 

(In command of an cscouadc of about ten men.) 

" A Corporal sleeps in the same room with the troopers 
of his escoiiade; he sees that his troopers wash their heads, 
faces, hands and feet." He sees that the beds are properly 
made, and that the troopers ordered for special duty are 
in readiness. Once a week, on the day fixed by the Cap- 
tain, he gets all the kits thoroughly cleaned. 

'' He takes particular care that the troopers change their 
linen once a week." 

On pay-day he receives the pay from the Sergeant- 
major and hands it over to the troopers. He superintends 
the drill of the recruits, teaches them how to do their pack- 
ing, and how to clean their arms and kit. He also shows 
them how to groom their horses. 

He reports to the Sergeant the punishments he has 
given, and reports to him on matters generally. ■ 

At reveille he compels the troopers to rise, and calls the 
roll ; he sees that all beds are imcovered, and that the 
great-coats which may have been used at night are prop- 
erly rolled up. He then sends to the stables a certain 
number of men to feed the horses and to clean the stalls. 

*' When the other men are dressed he orders the win- 
dows to be opened in order to change the air." 

He takes the names of the sick men, and reports on the 
events of the night. 

He designates a trooper in turn to clean and tidy up 
the room. (When several cscouades sleep in the same 
room the senior Corporal is in charge.) It is his duty to 
keep proper order. He stops all games likely to lead to 
quarrels, he sends men who are drunk to bed ; should 
they disturb the peace he calls the Sergeant of the Week 
by whom they are sent to the Salle de Police. He forbids 

22 



INTRODUCTION 

smoking in bed, and sees that troopers take their meals 
properly. In winter he takes care that the stoves are 
heated in moderation, and in the evening sees that the 
water jug is full. When the trumpeter has sounded 
" lights out," he sees that all lights are extinguished. 

When an officer enters the room the Corporal com- 
mands "Fixe!" (attention). The troopers rise, uncover 
themselves, and stand at attention until the officer has 
given the word '' Re post " (stand at ease). Should the of- 
ficer be a Field or General officer the Corporal commands 
" A vos rangs — Fixe! " at which command every trooper 
stands at the foot of his bed at " attention." 

The " Corporal of the Week '' helps generally the 
'' Sergeant of the Week," who, in practice, relies upon him 
for the performance of many of the duties he is supposed 
to carry out himself. 

CAPORAL D'ORDINAIRE. 

This Corporal takes delivery of, or purchases, the sup- 
plies required for the meals of the troopers of his squad- 
ron ; he has also the supervision of the kitchen, and col- 
lects the washing. 



IV 

PUNISHMENTS 

" The following are regarded as offences against dis- 
cipline, and punished as such according to their gravity : 

*' On the part of the superior, every act of weakness, 
abuse of authority, insulting language, or the unjust in- 
fliction of any punishment. 

" On the part of the inferior, murmuring, unseemly 

23 



INTRODUCTION 

answers, lack of obedience (whatever may be the circum- 
stances or the provocation); evading a punishment; 
drunkenness (even without disturbance) ; general mis- 
conduct, debt, quarrels ... in fact, every dereliction 
of military duty, whether it is the result of negligence, lazi- 
ness, or stubbornness." 

The fact of publishing, even under a nom de plume, a 
book, pamphlet, article, or letter, whatever may be its sub- 
ject, without previous leave from the Minister of War, is 
considered an offence against discipline. 

'" Any man belonging to the army or navy can he pun- 
ished by another man holding a rank superior to his ozvn, 
whatever may be the place or the circumstances/' To be 
rightly understood this requires some explanation. For 
instance, a Captain in the navy (who ranks as a Colonel), 
on leave in Paris, meets at a cafe a Major of a cavalry 
regiment ; if the latter does not salute him, or misbehaves 
himself in any way, the naval officer can punish him on 
the spot. It constantly happens, for instance, that a 
trooper of a cavalry regiment passing a Corporal of the 
line fails to salute him. The Corporal has the right to 
punish the trooper forthwith. 

" The officer in command of a regiment can increase or 
reduce punishments ; he can even cancel them. In that 
case, he points out to the officer or non-commissioned of- 
ficer the mistake he has made, and orders him to cancel 
himself the punishment he has inflicted. . . ." The Cap- 
tain in command of a squadron can increase a punishment 
inflicted by one of his direct subordinates. He cannot, 
however, reduce such punishment without the Colonel's 
leave. 



24 



INTRODUCTION 



PUNISHMENT OF OFFICERS. 

The following are the punishments which may be in- 
flicted on regimental officers : 

(a) Arrets simples (confinement to rooms). 

(b) Reprimand by Colonel. 

(c) Arrets de rigueur (strict confinement to room). 

(d) Arrets de forteresse (confinement in a fortress). 

(e) Reprimand by a General. 

A Lieutenant can inflict a punishment of four days 
arrets simples on a Sub-lieutenant ; a Captain a punish- 
ment of eight days on any officer of lower rank ; a Captain 
of a squadron fifteen days on officers of his own squadron ; 
a Major fifteen days, and the Colonel thirty days, on any 
officer of a rank lower than their own. 

An officer thus placed under arrest must attend to his 
military duties as usual, but in the intervals he must keep 
to his room, and may receive no visits except official ones. 

Arrets de rigueur (viz., confinement to the room, with a 
sentry posted at the door) and arrets de forteresse can be 
inflicted by the Colonel alone. He can give any officer 
under his orders thirty days of the former and fifteen days 
of the latter. 

(In no case can an officer apply for a court-martial, as 
in England. In some regiments, especially in the line, 
officers get punished more frequently than privates get 
m.ere C.B. in a British regiment.) 

" The punishment begins from the moment it has been 
inflicted." 

Let it be also noted that an officer can inflict a punish- 
ment on any other officer inferior in rank to himself, to 
whatever squadron he may belong, and can similarly pun- 
ish officers of other regiments ; and, as stated before, any 

25 



INTRODUCTION 

officer in the navy can punish an officer in the army of 
inferior rank, and vice versa! 

Recent events in France give special interest to this 
subject, and I will therefore give some account of various 
other punishments which can be inflicted upon French 
officers without enabling them to appeal to a court-martial. 

The question is, indeed, one of such high interest at the 
present juncture that I will quote verbatim from the Army 
Regulations : 

" When an officer commits a fault, which — without be- 
ing such as to entail the loss of his commission or his 
being sent before a court-martial — is still serious enough 
to require a heavier punishment than those above de- 
scribed, he can be suspended (placed in non-act ivite) or 
his commission can be cancelled {Us peuvent etre mis en 
re forme).'' 

The non-activite, which means the temporary exclusion 
from the service, is determined by decree of the President 
of the Republic upon the report of the Minister of War. 

The '' superior authority " decides as to the causes which 
may necessitate the placing of an officer in non-activite, a 
disciplinary measure taken in cases of less serious a nature 
than those for which an officer may lose his commission 
{pent etre mis en re forme — c'est-a-dire, V exclusion defini- 
tive de Varmee * ) . 

The place of an officer who has been suspended {non- 
activite par suspension d'eniploi) is not filled up during a 
year, and he can be sent back to his regiment before the 
expiration of that period. 

An officer placed in non-activity par retrait d'emploi re- 
mains in that position for an unlimited period, but at the 
end of three years a court of inquiry {un conseil d'en- 
qucte) is called upon to give its opinion as to whether the 

* The vagueness of this should be noted, 
26 



INTRODUCTION 

officer ought to be cashiered or not (si rofUcier doit ctre 
mis en re forme). 

When the officer commanding a regiment considers that 
an officer under his orders cannot remain en aetivite either 
on account of misconduct or on account of neglect of duty, 
or else through incapacity, he details his complaint against 
the said officer in a report he sends to the Major-general 
commanding his brigade. He specifies whether he con- 
siders that the officer ought to be suspended for a time 
or permanently {si VofUcier doit etre mis en non-activite 
par suspension on par retrait d'emploi), and sends with 
his complaint a list of the various punishments inflicted 
on the officer, a copy of the officer's notes, and, if neces- 
sary, documents relating to the facts upon which the de- 
mand is based. 

The documents are examined by the General command- 
ing the brigade, who forwards them to the General com- 
manding the division, who sends them in his turn to the 
General commanding the army corps, by whom they are 
forwarded to the Minister of War. Each one of the 
above-mentioned Generals writes his opinion on the case. 

An officer who has been suspended (mis en non-activite) 
remains subject to military discipline under the surveil- 
lance of the General commanding the military district 
where he has been allowed to reside.* The Mise en re- 
forme f (cashiering) is determined by the President of the 
Republic upon the proposal of the Minister of War as a 
disciplinary measure. 

This punishment can be inflicted upon an officer as an 
immediate measure without it being necessary that he 
should have been previously suspended: it can be in- 

* Which means that an officer so punished cannot travel out of his dis- 
trict without leave. 

t Colonel Picquart's case. 

27 



INTRODUCTION 

flicted for habitual misconduct, serious neglect of duty, 
or breach of discipline, or dishonourable conduct. It can 
also become the consequence of three years of non-activity 
either as a disciplinary measure or through ill-health. 
When an officer is, as above stated, sent before a commis- 
sion of enquiry (Conseil d'Enquete) the minutes of the 
proceedings are forwarded to the Minister of War. 

The opinion of such a commission cannot be modified 
except in favour of the office ^ (sic). An officer who has 
been cashiered (en reforme) is liberated from all obliga- 
tions imposed on officers in a position of activity or non- 
activity, f 

I have wandered far away from the regiment, I have 
quoted dry law, and I feel afraid that readers will begin 
to ask ; *' But what about your own adventures ? " I am 
as anxious as my readers to get to them, but I think it 
better to get rid of all the dreary details first, and this 
introduction will enable me to go on with my story with- 
out having constantly to stop to explain this or that. I 
shall not abuse the patience of my readers much longer, 
but there are still a few details I must explain, and I hope 
that I shall be forgiven for doing so. 

The punishments which may be inflicted on non-com- 
missioned officers are as follows : — 

(i) Confinement to barracks after the evening roll-call. 
This is given to Sergeants who show laziness in, or ig- 
norance of, their work, or who return late to barracks. 
(N.C.O.s, unless thus punished, can remain out till ii 

P.M.) 

(ii) Confinement to barracks. Inflicted on a Sergeant 

* L'avis du conseil ne peut etre modifie qu'en faveur de I'officier. 
("Service Interieur," p. 220.) 

t It therefore stands to reason that a court-martial could not legally 
try Colonel Picquart. 

28 



INTRODUCTION 

whose personal appearance is slovenly, or who allows his 
men to fail in their appearance. 

(iii) Confinement to the room. Inflicted for slight 
breaches of discipline. For more serious offences N.C.O.s 
are sent to prison. (Except, in the latter case, N.C.O.s 
under punishment have to do their duty as usual.) 

(iv) Reprimand by Captain commanding the squadron. 

(v) Reduction in rank (retro gradation). 

(vi) Absolute loss of rank (cassation) . 

The appended table explains itself : — 



Punishments of 
N.CO.s. 



(i) . . 
(ii). . 

(iii) . 
Prison 





Right of Punishment 


BY — 


Sergeant- 
major. 


Sergeant- 
major in 

his 
Squadron. 


Adjudant, 
Lieut. 

and Sub- 
lieut. 


Captain. 


Majors, 

and Capt.- 

commt. 


Days. 
4 

2 


Days. 
8 
4 


Days. 
8 
8 


Days. 

15 

8 


Days. 

30 
15 


— 


— 


4 


8 


15 


— 


— 




^"^ 


8 



Colonel. 



Days. 
30 
30 
30 
15 



Corporals in the French army do not rank as N.C.O.s. 
The latter are far better treated now than they were in my 
time, the change being entirely due to General Boulanger, 
and being one of the causes of his great popularity among 
the soldiers. Until he became Minister of War, non-com- 
missioned officers could be sent to the Salle de Police 
(lock-up). An Adjudant could give a Sergeant eight 
days of Salle de Police, or fifteen days' C.B., and a Ser- 
geant-major could give the Sergeants four days' Salle de 
Police and eight days' C.B. Sergeants could even be sent 
to prison by the Adjndants. There existed a Salle de 
Police separate from the one allotted to the men, to which 

29 



INTRODUCTION 

Sergeants and Corporals were sent together, the only dif- 
ference being that Sergeants were allowed a straw mat- 
tress and blanket, while the Corporals were only allowed 
one blanket and slept on boards. 

The punishments inflicted on Corporals are ; 

(a) Confinement to barracks. 

(b) Salic de Police (lock-up). 
{c) Prison. 

{d) Reduction to the ranks. 





Right of Punishment by— 


Nature of 
Punishment 
of Corporals. 


Ser- 
geants. 


Sergeant- 
majors. 


Sergeant- 
major 
in Fiis 
Squad- 
ron. 


Adjudant, 

Sub-lieut. 

and 

Lieuts. 


Captains. 


Field 
Officers 

and 
Captains 
command- 
ing a 
Squadron. 


Colonel. 


{a) . . . 
{6) . . . 
{c) . . . 


Days. 
4 


Days. 
4 


Days. 
8 


Days, 
8 
4 


Days. 

15 

8 


Days. 
30 

15 

8 


Days. 
30 
30 
15 



Corporals are confined to barracks for slight breaches 
of discipline. For failing to answer the evening call, bad 
language,* disobedience, quarrels, drunkenness, Corporals 
are sent to the Salic dc Police. For more serious faults, 
especially when on duty, Corporals are sent to prison. 



TROOPERS. 

The punishments inflicted on troopers are : 
(a) Extra work. 
{h) Inspection with the guard parade. 

* e.g., saying that Dreyfus is innocent. Reading a newspaper — what- 
ever it may be — is also a serious offence. 

30 



INTRODUCTION 

(c) Confinement to barracks. 

(d) Salle de Police, 
{e) Prison. 

(/) Cells (solitary confinement). 
Punishments (a), {b), {c) were in my time very sel- 
dom inflicted in a cavalry regiment, being regarded as too 
mild for a trooper and only fit for men in the line. I am 
told that this is still the case. 





Right of Punishment by — 


Nature of 

Punishments 

given to 

Troopers. 


Corporals 


Sergeants 

and 
Sergeant- 
major. 


Sergeant- 
major 
in his 
Squad- 
ron. 


Adjudant, 

Sub-lieut. 

and 

Lieuts. 


Captains. 


Field 
Officers 

and 
Captains 
command- 
ing a 
Squadron. 


Colonel. 


{d) . . . 
{e) . . . 


Days. 

2 


Days. 
4 


Days. 
8 


Days. 
8 
4 


Days. 
8 


Days. 

30 
15 

8 


Days. 
30 
30 

15 
8 



(Until General Boulanger became Minister of War 
Corporals could give a trooper two days' Salle de Police ; 
a Sergeant could inflict four days, a Sergeant-major 
eight days, and an Adjudant fifteen days, or four days' 
prison.) 

Troopers confined to barracks are employed in doing 
the hardest and dirtiest manual work. They take part in 
every drill and duty besides. Those sent to the Salle de 
Police are kept at night in the lock-up. Troopers sent to 
prison do no duty, but undergo special punishment drill 
for three hours in the morning and three hours at night. 
They are deprived of pay, of sugar, and of cofifee. 

Troopers in the cells are kept in confinement day and 



INTRODUCTION 

night. Only a blanket without bedding is allowed to the 
troopers in prison or in the cells. 

Any Corporal or trooper who, during his three years* 
service, has been sent to prison or to the cells, must at the 
expiration of his three years' service, remain with the 
colours for a number of days equal to those he has spent 
in prison or in the cells. 

I have not yet exhausted the list of punishments which 
may be inflicted upon French privates. There is another 
one more terrible than all the others I have described. 
This consists in sending a soldier to the Conipagnies de 
discipline. This means transportation to Algeria. There 
the soldier is drafted into one of the special companies en- 
camped far away in the interior. The men are drilled for 
several hours daily, and during the remainder of the time 
they are employed at road-making and subjected to other 
hard labour. Officers and Sergeants in command are al- 
ways armed with loaded revolvers, and at the least sign of 
disobedience they can blow a man's brains out. For the 
slightest fault these men are sent to the silos — deep holes 
dug in the ground, and funnel-shaped at the bottom, so 
that neither standing, sitting, nor lying down is possible. 
They are left there for one or two days with bread and 
water. An awful case occurred some years ago in con- 
nection with these silos, which will be described in the 
course of my narrative. 

*' The Minister of War," say the regulations, '' has full 
power to send to the Compagnies de discipline any private 
who has committed one or several faults, the gravity of 
which makes any other mode of repression inadequate." 

Usually, however, such men are tried before a Conseil 
de discipline. When the Captain in command of a squad- 
ron considers that one of his troopers has deserved to be 
sent to a Compagnie de discipline he sends a written report 

32 



INTRODUCTION 

to the Major stating the faults or misdemeanours of the 
trooper and the punishments which have been inflicted 
upon him, dwelHng upon the recurrence of certain acts 
which show a perseverance in ill-doing, a danger to the 
good order of the service. 

This report is endorsed by the Major, and the Lieuten- 
ant-colonel, who hands it over to the Colonel. The latter 
can either transmit this report to the Minister of War, who 
decides upon the case, or (as is usually done) he can as- 
semble a disciplinary commission (Conseil de discipline) 
consisting of the following officers of the regiment : 

One Major (who presides over the commission). 

The two senior Captains and the two senior Lieutenants, 
provided they do not belong to the squadron of the trooper 
to be tried. 

The Captain who applies for the infliction of the punish- 
ment, as well as the Major who commands the squadrons 
to which the trooper belongs, lay their case before the 
court. They then retire, and the trooper is brought in 
and makes his defence. The court then deliberates and 
sends its decision to the Colonel. It must be remembered 
that the court merely gives its advice, and this is sent to 
the General commanding the division of which the regi- 
ment is a unit. Should the court recommend the trooper 
to be sent to the Cotnpagnies de discipline, the General 
can decline to act upon their advice, but should the court 
decide that the trooper ought not to be sent there, the 
General is bound to abide by the decision. This seems, at 
first blush, an equitable procedure, but when we remember 
the almost unlimited power possessed by a Colonel over 
the officers of his regiment, it is easy to realise that a 
Conseil de discipline usually sits for the mere purpose of 
carrying out the well-ascertained wishes of the supreme 
regimental authority. 



CHAPTER I 

I HAVE already explained that twenty years ago, when I 
served my time in the ranks of the French army, French 
military law differed from what it is now. It is true that 
— speaking generally — every able-bodied Frenchman was 
then, as now, compelled to undergo five years' active ser- 
vice, but for young men who had graduated at a University 
there was the loop-hole of escape described in the Intro- 
duction. Having no ambition to serve for five years as a 
private, I naturally determined to avail myself of the bene- 
fit of the law, and accordingly in the month of August, 
1879, I went over to the head-quarters of the military di- 
vision of Paris, and there, after producing all the papers 
required by French red-tapeism,* I signed a voluntary 
engagement for a period of one year (Engagement con- 
ditionnel) . 

A month later I received orders to appear before the 
Conseil de revision, held in the town-hall of my district. 
About two hundred fellows, belonging to every class of 
society, were waiting in the yard — most of them, indeed, 
being roughs from la Villette (the Whitechapel of Paris). 
We were called up by batches of twenty-five, and shown 
by gendarmes into a room, around which stood long 
benches with pegs above them. A red-hot stove was burn- 

* Birth certificate, father's consent, certificate of degree, certificate of 
respectabihty and good morals (signed by the local Police Commissary), 
father's undertaking to pay /'Go on my being accepted by the Conseil de 
revision. 

34 



TROOPER 3809 

ing in a corner of this room, and as there was no ventila- 
tion of any kind, and more than one hundred unwashed 
ruffians had already undressed and dressed there, the smell 
was abominable. A gendarme then ordered us to strip off 
all our clothing, barring our socks, and when we had done 
so — what a sight we were ! — he called each one of us in 
turn and placed us under a measuring gauge. He first 
took our height with our socks on, and then without them 
— except in the case of those who possessed no such gar- 
ment, and who formed the majority. The gendarme who 
measured us was a Sergeant, and he dictated to a private 
the result of his measurements. When my turn came he 
placed me under the apparatus and then asked for my 
name. 

" Decle," I said. 

" And your Christian name ? " 

" Lionel." 

" Lionel," he replied ; '* that's not a Christian name." 

I assured him that it w^as my Christian name, and, what 
was more, the only one I possessed. 

*' Well, it's a queer Christian name, and I don't know 
where your people fished it out," he remarked. After a 
glance at the scale he dictated " 1.78 metre in his socks," 
to his subordinate. He then ordered me to remove my 
socks, and, measuring me once more, pronounced the ver- 
dict '' 1.79 metre without socks." 

** But, Sergeant," I asked, '' how can I be taller with- 
out my socks than with them on ? " 

" You will perhaps teach me my business ! " he angrily 
replied, and seeing that the private was hesitating to write 
down the figures, '' D you," he shouted, '' are you go- 
ing to take that down or not ? " 

The private silently obeyed, doubtless accustomed for 
years to passive obedience. 

35 



TROOPER 3809 

I was then told to stand aside, and another fellow was 
called up. We were then sent, each in turn, into another 
room, where sat the Conseil de revision, presided over by 
a General in full uniform, assisted by officials also in uni- 
form, and a few respectable-looking old gentlemen. I 
confess that I felt rather shy at having to appear without 
clothes before so ornamental a company, whose uniforms 
strangely contrasted with the state of nature I was in. A 
clerk, having inquired my name, fished out my papers 
from a huge bundle, and asked me a long list of questions 
about my family history. The President then inquired 
whether I could show any cause why I should not serve, 
and upon my negative reply, a military surgeon proceeded 
to examine me. A paper was handed over to him by the 
clerk. 

" What's this? " he said. *' You're one metre seventy- 
eight in your socks, and a centimetre more without them ?" 

" That's just what I said to the gendarme, sir," I replied, 
" but he told me to shut up." 

The gendarme was called and questioned about the 
matter. 

" All I can say, sir," he replied, '' is that a machine can't 
lie, and Fve had enough experience not to make a mis- 
take." 

There was a burst of laughter from all the members of 
the council, which seemed to greatly astonish the old gen- 
darme. The doctor took me back to measure me himself, 
and finding that my exact height was one metre seventy- 
nine without socks, he pointed this out to the gendarme. 
The latter, however, shook his head. " Well, sir," he 
stoutly declared, " all I can say is that he was one seventy- 
eight just now." I was brought back to the council-room 
and the doctor then proceeded to take my chest and other 
measurements, dictating to the clerk a list of my various 

36 



TROOPER 3809 

" points." He then asked me about my past illnesses, and 
inquired into the health of my father, mother, and grand- 
parents. He then tested my heart and lungs, felt my legs, 
and examined my teeth ; concluding the whole perform- 
ance by making me sit down, walk, and cough. I felt like 
a horse under examination by a " Vet." The result of this 
inspection was that I was passed as fit for service. Before 
retiring I was asked whether I preferred to serve in the 
infantry, artillery, heavy or light cavalry. I expressed a 
desire to serve in the Dragoons, and my wish was duly 
noted. Shortly afterwards I received notice to present 
myself at one of the Paris cavalry barracks, in order to pass 
an examination in riding, for Volontaires, having then to 
serve only one year, were admitted into the cavalry only if 
they could already ride. The examination was a most 
simple one : we had to mount a horse, which was saddled, 
but without stirrups, and then had to walk, trot, and canter 
once round the riding-school. About a score of others 
passed the examination at the same time as myself, and 
only one candidate, who managed to fall ofif his horse while 
trotting, was rejected as unfit to serve in the cavalry, 
though of the whole batch hardly three could pretend to 
a knowledge of horsemanship. 

At the beginning of October I received a notification 
that I was to serve in the 9th Dragoons, at Dinan in Brit- 
tany. I was most anxious not to go so far from Paris, 
and as my maternal uncle then held a most prominent posi- 
tion in the Senat, being Leader of the Left Centre, I ob- 
tained a letter from him to the Minister of War, who al- 
lowed me to choose whatever regiment I liked. One year 
before, a great friend of mine. Baron de Lanoy, had en- 
listed for five years in the 50th Dragoons stationed at 
Noilly,* and he had lately been promoted to the rank of 
* All names of persons and places in the narrative are fictitious. 

37 



TROOPER 3809 

Sergeant. He had strongly advised me to join his regi- 
ment, the Colonel of which, the Marquis de Vieilleville, 
was most favourably disposed towards the Volontaires. 
At my request I was accordingly drafted into that regi- 
ment. Unfortunately, shortly before I joined, the Mar- 
quis died, and was replaced by Colonel Hermann, who 
hated Volontaires, and proved, as will be seen, a martinet 
of the worst type. 

Towards the end of October I received my feuille de 
roiite, ordering me to present myself at lo a.m. at the 
cavalry barracks at Noilly. It was a dull, dreary, miser- 
able, wet day when I took a train at the gave dii Nord at 
half -past seven in the morning, to begin my military ex- 
periences — experiences which proved, as will be seen, little 
short of what I might have had to suffer had I been sen- 
tenced to hard labour. An hour later the train stopped at 
Noilly, where, following the advice previously given to me 
by my friend de Lanoy, I drove to the Crown Hotel, the 
best in the place, engaged a room, and hastily swallowed 
the last decent breakfast I was to enjoy for many days to 
come. Half an hour before the appointed time I drove to 
the barracks. The sentry stood shivering in his box, and 
the thought then flashed across my mind that it would 
soon become my lot to stand there myself. I passed the 
gate, and seeing one of the troopers standing outside the 
guard-room, I was about to ask him where I could find my 
friend, Sergeant de Lanoy, when a Sergeant, dragging his 
sword on the ground, stepped out of the guard-room and 
addressed me : 

" Hullo! what do you want, you there? " 

*' Sir," I replied, " I am a Volontaire, and I want to go 
and see a friend of mine, Sergeant de Lanoy." 

'* Oh, you're a Volontaire, are you ? Well, you can wait 
where you are ! " 

38 



TROOPER 3809 

" But, sir," I asked again, '' can't I be allowed to go and 
see Sergeant de Lanoy? " 

*' What ! Answers, eh ? You'll have to be put through 
your paces at once, my fine fellow, or else you will make 
the acquaintance of the hoite (cells) sooner than you care 
for. Wait there and shut up," he concluded. 

There was nothing for it, therefore, but to walk up and 
down in the drizzling rain. I had already visited the bar- 
racks once, a few months before, when I came to pay a call 
on de Lanoy, little thinking then that I should soon belong 
to his regiment. Now they presented a much keener inter- 
est for me, and I looked anxiously at my surroundings. 
On each side of the gate stood a small lodge. One of these 
was used as a guard-room, the other was the residence of 
the barrack caretaker, a post usually bestowed on an old 
pensioned non-commissioned officer. The barrack yard 
itself was about 400 yards long and 250 broad ; in the 
middle of it stood the riding-school, flanked on each side 
by two rows of huge two-storied buildings running at right 
angles to the entrance gate. On the ground floor of these 
buildings were the stables, and above them the men's quar- 
ters. The right-hand portion of the barracks was occupied 
by an infantry regiment, while the remainder was used 
by the Dragoons. It may here be noted that different 
names are given to the barracks occupied by cavalry and 
by infantry, the latter being called casernes, while the 
former are termed quartiers. The yard was teeming with 
life : troopers in stable uniforms were running to and fro, 
some carrying buckets of water, others empty-handed ; in 
front of me was a group of half-a-dozen men pumping 
water into a long tank running along the riding-school ; 
other troopers were sweeping the yard, while one of their 
number collected in a wheelbarrow the little heaps of 
refuse gathered by the others ; then an officer came out 

39 



TROOPER 3809 

of the riding-school and called to a trooper to take back 
his charger to the stables. In a few moments a man came 
running to the guard-room, and shouted to the Trumpeter 
to call the Sergeants of the Week quickly, as the Captain 
of the Week wanted them. The Trumpeter sounded the 
call, and had hardly finished when five Sergeants came at 
a run and went to the Captain, who stood near the riding- 
school, where I could hear him abusing them with frantic 
gesticulations. My attention was next called to six 
troopers in stable dress (but with swords and carbines), 
their faces turned towards a wall ; they were being drilled 
by a Sergeant, and I was struck by the length of time dur- 
ing which they remained in the same position. While I 
was looking at them the Sergeant gave a word of com- 
mand, and the troopers stood with their swords extended 
at arm's length : two, three, minutes elapsed, and I could 
see the poor fellows getting so tired that they had to bend 
their bodies to remain with their swords in the right posi- 
tion ; the Sergeant, walking up and down, did not seem to 
mind this, but one of the troopers having slightly bent his 
arm, the Sergeant, in a monotonous tone of voice, calling 
the fellow by name, said, " So-and-so, two days more for 
not holding your sword straight." This seemed to me 
little short of barbaric cruelty. I afterwards realised that 
this exercise was punishment drill for men punished with 
prison. Soon the Trumpeter sounded '' Soup," and every 
trooper employed in the barrack square hurried to put 
away his tools, while men rushed from every corner, shout- 
ing like school-boys let loose. While I was watching the 
scene I have described I noticed the arrival of a tall, hand- 
some, and well-groomed young man in civilian attire, who 
asked me if I was a Volontaire, adding that he was himself 
one, and that he wanted to know where he had to report 
himself. In order to save him from the Sergeant's abuse, 

40 



TROOPER 3809 

I warned him that he had better wait with me until the 
Sergeant of the Guard called us. While we were talking 
the Sergeant appeared on the threshold of the guard-room, 
and, at the top of his voice, shouted out, " What the deuce 
are you hatching there, you idiots ? I suppose you're an- 
other of these (using a double-barrelled adjective) Volon- 
tairesf " turning to my companion. 

" Yes, sir," replied the young fellow. 

" Well, why the devil don't you come and report your- 
self, you blockhead ? " 

*' Oh, sir," replied Walter — for such we will suppose his 
name to be — " this gentleman," pointing to me, '' told 
me—" 

*' This gentleman told you ! " howled the Sergeant, 
" this gentleman, indeed ; you're really too damned polite. 
You're another colt who requires breaking in. Now, you 
two young pekins,^ advance to orders, and show me your 
papers." We produced our fenilles de route, and the Ser- 
geant having examined them told us to go to the Pay- 
master's office in the town. '' Oh ! you want to speak to 
Sergeant de Lanoy, do you? " he said to me. " FU give 
you a trooper to take you to him." 

Having asked my new comrade to wait a few minutes 
for me outside the barracks, so that we might go together 
to the Paymaster's office, I was going with the trooper 
towards de Lanoy's quarters when we met him coming to 
look out for me. I told him how I had been treated by the 
Sergeant of the Guard, and he replied that he was not in 
the least astonished, as the fellow was a brute, adding that 
he had no right to keep me waiting when I asked to go 
and see him. '' Pll have it out with him," he remarked, 
adding: " You go straight to the Paymaster's office and 
ask to be drafted into my squadron, the 3rd, and Pll see 

* An offensive term for "civilian " used by soldiers. 
41 



TROOPER 3809 

that you're placed under my orders, so that I can look after 
you." We then parted, and outside the barracks, I found 
Jack Walter waiting for me. Curiously enough, though 
he was the first acquaintance I made in the regiment, our 
friendship, which began that day, has lasted ever since. 
My friend is of English origin (his grandfather having 
been an Englishman who became naturalised in France), 
and were I to mention his real name it would be recognised 
by most of my readers as that of a rising painter of un- 
doubted genius, whose works have graced many a Salon. 
We went to the Paymaster's office, and, although we were 
rather upset by the reception we had received from the 
Sergeant of the Guard, we were both very keen on serving. 

The Paymaster made no difficulty about placing me in 
the 3rd squadron, while Walter was drafted into the 2nd, 
having a letter of introduction to one of the officers of that 
squadron. We each received a paper from the Pay- 
master's clerk with instructions to hand them over to our 
respective Sergeant-majors ; the clerk kindly added that 
we need not return to barracks before 11 a.m., as the Ser- 
geants were eating their breakfast. When I returned to 
the barracks I went to the Sergeant of the Guard and told 
him that I was back from the Paymaster's office, asking 
him to direct me to my Sergeant-major's office. 

" Do you take me for a sign-post ? " he answered. 

" No, sir," I replied, " but I wanted your leave before 
asking a trooper to show me the way." 

'' You long-nosed chap, you're a soldier now, remember 
that ; so do me the honour of calling me * Sergeant,' and 
not ' sir.' " 

" Yes, Sergeant," I replied. He then ordered a trooper 
who stood in the guard-room to take me to the office of my 
Sergeant-major. '* By the way," he said, as I was going 
off, " what squadron do you belong to? " 

42 



TROOPER 3809 

*' To the 3rd squadron, Sergeant." 

" It's a pity you don't belong to mine," he answered : 
*' I should like to have had you under my orders ; it would 
have been a real pleasure to lick you into shape. But God 
help you if you ever cross my path. I don't like your face. 
When I don't like a man's face it's a poor chance he stands 
with me. Now go, clear out of this." 

I'm sorry to say that it was my misfortune to have this 
man later on as my chief, and he duly proved that his boast 
was no vain one. When I reached the Sergeant-major's 
office I met outside the door my friend de Lanoy, and in- 
formed him that I had managed to be placed in his squad- 
ron. 

*' I'm glad of it," he said: " I will go with you to see 
the Sergeant-major, and try to get you put in my peloton " 
(company). 

The Sergeant-major's office was a small room about six- 
teen feet by twelve, and served as a bedroom as well as an 
office. Three non-commissioned officers slept in it ; the 
Sergeant-major, the Sergeant foiirrier, and the Corporal 
foiirrier, who ranks as a non-commissioned officer.* At a 
huge table in the centre of the room sat the Sergeant- 
major, a cold, stern, and distant individual. He granted 
de Lanoy's request, and put me in his peloton, ordering 
him at the same time to assign me a bed. De Lanoy, now 
my Sergeant, took me to the room where the 120 men of 
our squadron lived, ate, and slept. Two lateral partitions, 
ten or twelve feet high, ran the whole length of the room, 
with beds on each side of them. There were thus four 
rows of beds running along the room, each row being oc- 
cupied by the troopers belonging to tlie same company. 
The beds themselves seemed so narrow that one could 

* Corporals do not rank as such. 
43 



TROOPER 3809 

hardly realise how a man could manage to sleep in one of 
them. At the head of each hed hung the trooper's sword ; 
on a nail near it was suspended the bag containing brushes 
and other stable implements, while laid on two shelves 
running along the whole length of the room, above the 
beds, each trooper had his clothes carefully folded, and 
covered with a canvas bag on which the number under 
which he was registered appeared in large figures. On the 
top of this stood the helmet, with a pair of boots on each 
side of it. In each corner of the room the carbines stood 
on racks. 

" Although you are not allowed to have any one to help 
you," said de Lanoy to me, '' it is simply impossible for 
you to make your bed and to clean yourself, your clothes, 
your boots, saddlery, and weapons, for, the moment you 
begin the special work allotted to Volontaires, you will 
only have two hours to spare for meals every day ; you 
must therefore arrange with two men to do your work, 
and I will place you between two good fellows whom I 
can trust to look after you. Only mind you," he added, 
'' the new Colonel hates Volontaires, and as any man found 
helping them will be severely punished, you will have to 
allow ten francs a week to each of the troopers who look 
after your things." He then gave me an empty bed which 
was placed between those of the two men he had selected 
and who were only too glad to look after me. One of them 
was a Parisian ruffian, nicknamed Titi de la Villette, and 
the other a country bumpkin whom every one called " the 
old un," on account of his prematurely aged appearance. 
By de Lanoy's advice I gave Titi five francs to buy a two- 
gallon jar of wine for the troopers belonging to my 
peloton. 

I then returned to the Sergeant-major's room, in order 
to supply him with particulars about myself such as have 

44 



TROOPER 3809 

to be registered in the lizrct (regimental book) handed 
over to every French soldier. 

" What's vour name? " he began. 

" Decle." ' 

*' What's your Christian name? '* 

" Lionel." 

'' Your profession ? " 

" I have none." 

*' Ah, yes," he replied, " a good-for-nothing, like all the 
Vol out aires." He then asked me for my father's name. 
Christian name and profession. I had also to give him 
my mother's maiden name, and to tell him whether I had 
any brothers or sisters. After this followed some rather 
ludicrous questions : 

*' Can you read and write ? " 

" Well," I said, " I suppose so, considering that I am a 
Volontaire, and have therefore taken a University degree." 

" I want none of your remarks," replied the Sergeant- 
major, staring at me from head to foot ; '' answer my 
questions. Can you swim ? " I replied in the affirmative. 

" How many times have you been convicted? " I pro- 
tested against the implication most energetically, but this 
only brought down on me a few cutting remarks about my 
cheek and impertinence. I had then to state whether I 
had had small-pox, whether I had been vaccinated or not, 
and whether I meant to re-enlist at the end of my year's 
service. My reply was in the negative as may well be 
imagined. 

The Sergeant-major having taken down all my answers 
looked at me once more from top to toe, and then de- 
livered the following little speech : " Look here, my boy," 
he began, " don't you run away with the idea that military 
service is all beer and skittles, or you'll soon be disap- 
pointed. I know what you Volontaires are like ; you come 

45 



TROOPER 3800 

here and imagine that you are going to have a good time of 
it ; but I warn you that you will have a devilish bad time 
of it if you don't keep straight. I'm a good sort of fellow 
enough, but all the troopers will tell you that I am pretty 
stiff. I won't punish you often, but when I do, you'll re- 
member it. You're too much of a fine gentleman for my 
taste, so I fancy it won't be long before you get into trou- 
ble. Now you can clear out — Sergeant de Lanoy will tell 
you what you have to do." 

I retired, a sadder but a wiser man. 



46 



CHAPTER II 

When I returned to my room the Corporal told me to 
follow him, as I had to undergo another medical inspec- 
tion. Two other Volontaires who had been drafted into 
my squadron accompanied us ; one of them evidently be- 
longed to the middle classes, but the other looked a mere 
farm hand ; he was, indeed, the son of a small farmer who 
had made great sacrifices to give his son a good education, 
and the boy, brought up in a Government school, had man- 
aged to get his B.A. degree, and his people had Vv^ith diffi- 
culty scraped together the £60 necessary for obtaining the 
privilege of serving for one year only. The fact of the 
poor boy having been foolish enough to elect to serve in 
the cavalry can only be ascribed to his ignorance, as he 
lacked sufficient means for this branch of the service, and 
a bad time of it he had, poor fellow. 

'' I say," the Corporal said to me confidentially, " that 
chap is a nice sort of Volontaire : fancy — he said that he'd 
be blowed if he was going to pay eight bob a week to get 
a trooper to fag for him, and he's only given two bob for 
us to drink his health with, and not a brass farthing to me, 
his Corporal. Ain't I going to set him to work he won't 
relish ! " 

I took the hint and promptly handed the Corporal a ten- 
franc piece. 

*' Oh, I didn't mean that as a hint, of course," he said, 
pocketing the money, " but I know you're quite the gentle- 
man, and the right sort too, and besides, you're a friend of 

47 



TROOPER 3809 

Sergeant de Lanoy, a real live Count, and the best of fel- 
lows into the bargain. I say you, what's-your-name," the 
Corporal went on, addressing the country bumpkin, 
" that's the canteen, what are you going to stand us? " 

'' Oh," replied the poor fellow blushing, '' I thought we 
were going to the medical inspection ? " 

" Yes, of course we are," replied the Corporal, " but I 
can see that the Surgeon-major hasn't turned up yet, so 
we've got lots of time." 

Taking pity on the poor fellow, I invited the Corporal 
and my two comrades to accompany me to the canteen, 
where we each had a cup of coffee, or rather chicory, with 
a glass of brandy, a refreshment which cost six pence for 
the four of us. The third Volontairc insisted upon stand- 
ing another drink, and then we hastened to the dispensary. 
There we were told to wait in a large, bare ante-room, 
and Walter, whom I had not seen since the morning, 
joined us. 

" A queer lot," he said, looking at our companions 
(there were fourteen of us, all told). One of them es- 
pecially attracted our attention, for he had a huge mous- 
tache and was apparently a man of thirty. Half-a-dozen 
at most looked gentlemen, while the others were, to say 
the least, commonplace. Few of us felt inclined to be 
communicative, and when the Surgeon-major turned up 
he found us gazing at each other in silence. The Surgeon- 
major was a short, active, sharp-spoken man, and having 
entered his office he sent the Corporal in charge of the dis- 
pensary to order us to strip. Once more we were meas- 
ured, felt, and thoroughly examined, all of us with one 
exception being passed as sound in wind and limb. The 
only one who failed to pass was rejected for short-sight, 
and ultimately invalided by the "" rcforrne " commission. 
Our respective Corporals then took us back to our rooms, 

48 



TROOPER 3809 

mine choosing a route through the canteen, where he in- 
sisted upon treating us — with the money I had given him 
— and he was half-seas-over before we left. 

On our return to the room we found the Sergeant foiir- 
rier awaiting us, and he at once took us to the store, where 
we were to receive our outfit. The store consisted of a 
long apartment, along the centre of which rows of shelves 
ran, reaching from floor to ceiling ; on these were classi- 
fied, according to size, every conceivable article of regi- 
mental outfit, each department being under the charge 
of a skilled regimental Sergeant — a Sergeant tailor, a Ser- 
geant bootmaker, a saddler, and a Sergeant storekeeper. 
We were first sent to the tailor. When my turn came he 
cast a glance over me, took from a shelf two pairs of trous- 
ers, two tunics, and one morning jacket. A Corporal 
showed us how to put them on according to regulations. 
The trousers are made of red felt, the seat and inside of the 
legs being of double thickness, that is to say, fully one inch 
thick ; from the knee downwards they were covered with 
soft but thick leather, with straps to fix under the boots. 
When I first held them in front of me they nearly reached 
to my chin, but the Corporal s'aid that they would be all 
right. I therefore got into them, but when I pulled my 
braces as tight as they would go, the trousers reached my 
armpits, and were so broad and so stiff that I could only 
walk with legs apart, to say nothing of their weight, which 
amounted to a good many pounds. I next got into my 
tunic, but the sleeves were so long that they reached the 
middle of my hand, while the collar was several inches too 
large for me. Under the collar of the tunic we had to 
fasten twice round our necks a blue cotton tie, two inches 
broad, fastened in a single knot in front. The tunic, a 
blue one, had a white collar w^ith the regimental number 
in red figures embroidered on a blue background. A white 

49 



TROOPER 3809 

strap was also affixed to the outside of the cuffs of the 
sleeves. The Corporal having examined me, ordered me 
to go to the bootmaker's department, in another part of the 
stores. " When you have been fitted with boots," he said, 
as I was walking off, " you must return to the tailor, who 
will send you to be inspected by the Captain." 

When I reached the bootmaker's special corner, I found 
him cursing furiously because he could not fit one of my 

comrades. " Ah ces nom de Dieu de d'volontaires 

faudrait leur y faire des bottes expres. Ah malheur de 
Dieu vrai ! " At last he seemed to have succeeded, and 
called me forward in turn. Having told me to take off one 
of my boots he looked at it : " Encore un d'ces malheurs 
de Dieu qu'a des pieds qu'ca fait suer," he exclaimed. " I 
shall never find boots for you," he went on, *' why have 
you got a long narrow foot like that ? Damnation ! dam- 
nation ! " he kept repeating as he went to look through his 
stock. 

I must mention here that only four sizes of boots are 
kept in stock; they all are square-toed and immensely 
broad; the heels are nearly two inches high, with spurs 
nailed on to them. The tbp of the boot is made of a soft 
piece of leather on which two leather tags are sewn, the 
boot itself reaching half way up the calf of the leg. Most 
French soldiers are, I suppose, flat-footed. At any rate 
every boot presented to me was so low in the instep that 
I could not find a single pair in which I could insert my 
feet, until, at last, the assistant bootmaker triumphantly 
produced a pair about two inches too long and an inch too 
broad for me, explaining that if I put sufficient straw in- 
side them they would fit all right. Finally, I had to pull 
down the leather portion of my trousers over the boots, not 
forgetting to fasten the under straps which alone pre- 
vented the boots from dropping off my feet. I hobbled as 

50 



TROOPER 3809 

well as I could towards the tailor; he turned me round 
admiringly. 

" It's all right," he said, '' go and show yourself to the 
Captain." 

My boots, as I have just said, were only held on my 
feet by the straps under them, and at every step my spurs 
caught in the heavy leather coverings of my trousers, but 
at last I managed to reach the Captain. 

He ordered me to unbutton my tunic, and looking at 
my elephantine trousers : " What's that ? " he cried ; " put 
your braces lower," and artistically creasing my trousers 
from top to bottom, he stepped back a few feet, and hav- 
ing had a good look at me : '* They're too short," he said, 
" go and get another pair from the tailor." As I was 
hobbling away he called me back. '' What are those boots 
you've got on ? They are too big for you. Are you such 
an idiot that you can't feel they are too big? " 

" Yes, sir," I replied, " but " 

'' But ! " he exclaimed, '' now look here, my boy, please 
understand that we don't allow remarks of any kind in 
the army. Go and get another pair of boots and trousers, 
and look sharp about it." 

I stumbled back towards the bootmaker. '^ The Captain 
says," I began, " that these boots are too large for me and 
that you must find me another pair." 

*' Ah, these d d Volontaires, what a lot of trouble 

they give us ! " sighed the bootmaker. After looking 
through all his stock he chucked three more pairs at me. 
In vain I tried to get into them, and called the bootmaker 
to show him that none of them would fit me. *' Why the 
deuce don't you take off your socks, socks aren't regula- 
tion," he angrily retorted. Notwithstanding my protests, 
I had to take them off. At last I managed to g^i one foot 
inside a boot, but the other, notwithstanding the efforts 

51 



TROOPER 3800 

of two strong men, resisted. " All right," said the boot- 
maker, " I'll stretch it a bit later on." 

So with only one boot on I hobbled to the tailor. '* The 
Captain says my trousers are too short," I told him. 

*' Oh, I'll soon put them to rights," he answered. Hav- 
ing pulled my braces lower down he thereupon proceeded 
to crease the leather at the bottom of the trousers. " Now 
go back to the Captain," he said. 

When I once more appeared before that officer he looked 
at me in utter disgust. " Why have you only got one boot 
on? Bootmaker," he shouted, without leaving me time to 
reply, " can't you find a pair of boots for this man? " 

" No, sir," replied the bootmaker, who had hurried up 
at the officer's command, " he's got an instep like I've 
never seen." 

'' What business has a cripple like you in my squad- 
ron ? " angrily remarked the Captain. 

'' But, sir—" I began. 

" Shut up," he howled; '' if you answer me again I'll 
send you straight off to the cells ! " and without looking at 
my trousers, he angrily told me to put on my tunic, which 
I had removed at his orders. I did so, and was then 
ordered to fold my arm over my chest. " What's that? " 
said the Captain ; *' how dare you come and show me such 
a tunic? Are you such a fool as not to see for yourself 
it's too small ? " 

Warned by previous experience I made no reply, and 
returned limping with my single boot to the tailor. I 
explained to him that the Captain found my tunic too 
small. 

" All right," he said, '' I'll soon make it larger." He 
pulled it about a little and sent me back to the Captain, 
who once more ordered me to fold my right arm over my 
chest. 

52 



TROOPER 3809 

" Sleeves too long, go and change," he said brusquely. 

I returned to the tailor and explained matters to him. 

" Never mind, my boy," he said; " I'll make you one 
that will fit you, it won't cost you much, and, of course, 
you have got money — you're a Volontairc ; now pull up 
your sleeve a bit and hold it tight under your arm before 
the Captain looks at you." 

I did so. 

" Fold your arms," once more said the Captain, when I 
returned to him for inspection. I followed the tailor's in- 
struction. '' It's too small," yelled the Captain, '' go and 
change." 

Without taking the trouble of doing this, I merely 
walked to where the tailor stood, and came back with the 
same tunic, letting the sleeve drop a little. This time, 
when the Captain examined me, he found it was a perfect 
fit! 

One aspect of the grotesque muddle I have just de- 
scribed is a very serious one. 

In the event of war breaking out between France and 
Germany, there is absolutely no doubt that success would 
depend on the rapidity with which troops could be mobi- 
lised in each country. While I was in the regiment, I 
witnessed more than once the arrival of the men belonging 
to the reserve. Although they are supposed to arrive with 
one suit of uniform, which they must take home with them 
after performing their act of service, their equipment has 
to be handed over to them, and the process entails all the 
confusion and trouble which were incurred when our own 
outfit had to be given out to us. In Germany things are 
very differently managed ; every man belonging to the re- 
serve knows at what barracks he will have to report him- 
self, and every year the reserve men are called together 
for a few hours, and shown where each man can find his 

53 



TROOPER 3809 

complete outfit. These are stored up in the following way : 
Long rows of shelves are divided into a certain number of 
partitions, each one of which contains the complete outfit 
of a private, every article of clothing having been properly 
fitted to the wearer, so that in case of mobilisation each 
soldier would know exactly where to go for his outfit, and 
no time would be wasted in distribution, in trying on 
uniforms and boots, and running from one department to 
the other. The object of calling out the reserve men for a 
few hours yearly is to teach them exactly where their outfit 
stands, and also to try on all the garments with a view to 
making any alterations rendered desirable by advancing 
years. In France, on the contrary, everything would be 
in confusion, and the various services, instead of helping 
each other, would lose valuable time in complicated red- 
tape ism. 

But to proceed : 

I went through the same ceremony with all the other 
clothes which were handed over to me. My outfit con- 
sisted of two tunics, two pairs of trousers, one short jacket 
for drill, one kepi, and a helmet. The latter is certainly the 
most comfortable headgear in the French army. It rests 
on the head by means of a broad leather band, the ends of 
which are cut into strips tapering towards the centre, 
where they are tied together so as to form a kind of skull- 
cap, which bears the whole weight of the helmet. The 
latter afifords a splendid protection against the sun and 
rain. Although its weight is nearly double that of the 
shako used by the light cavalry, it does not cause any 
pressure on the forehead or on the back of the head, as the 
latter invariably does. Besides the above garments, we 
also received two pairs of boots, two pairs of stable suits 
consisting of canvas trousers and blouse, with a blue and 
white cap and a dark-blue great-coat with a huge cape. 

54 



TROOPER 3809 

Our regulation linen consisted of two shirts of the coars- 
est material, two pairs of drawers of the same stuff, two 
towels, and, besides these, two pairs of thick white leather 
gloves. (All soldiers being supposed to have hands of 
the same size, the regulation gloves are invariably 
** nines.") Socks form no part of the regulation outfit; 
the men usually replace them by bits of rag, which are 
nicknamed " Russian socks." To complete the list of our 
wearing apparel, I must mention an enormous pair of 
wooden clogs for use in the stables, and a canvas bag into 
which our outfit was shoved ; having received this we 
were told to carry it on our shoulders to our rooms. We 
did not receive our arms until the following day, when 
each of us was given a carbine and a straight sword about 
four feet long, besides a small box of tools with which to 
take the carbine to pieces. At the same time we received 
our various trappings — a sword-belt with brass buckles, a 
sword-strap, a carbine-strap, and a cartridge-box (which 
in my time was slung over the shoulder and across the 
breast and back of the trooper). The next day our sad- 
dlery and stable gear were served out to us. The saddles 
then in use were still the discarded ones which had been 
bought from the British Government in 1870. These sad- 
dles had a high and straight wooden back, behind which 
the portmanteau was attached. This portmanteau v/as 
round and made of blue cloth with a red grenade at each 
end. Two holsters with miscellaneous straps, a leather 
bag containing a spare iron, and an open cord-girth com- 
pleted our saddle fittings. The bridle was similar to that 
used in the English army, with bit and snaffle so contrived 
that, by removing the straps holding the bit, the head-stall 
remained on the horse, the snaffle being passed through the 
rings of the head-stall. Our stable outfit consisted of a 
currycomb, a soft brush, a hard brush, a chamois leather, a 

55 



TROOPER 3809 

sponge, and a comb for mane and tail, the whole being en- 
closed in a small canvas bag. 

To return to my first day in the regiment. Having 
brought back all my gear to the room, I was informed by 
the Corporal that all the things would have to be marked 
with the number which had been assigned to me. The 
clothes, linen, and all articles of wear I was supposed to 
mark, myself, with stencils which could be obtained from 
the Sergeant fourrier. I entrusted, however, the two men 
who had arranged to clean my things with this tedious 
work, as I was, myself, most anxious to get into the town. 
Of course I had to be in uniform. Full dress had to be 
worn after noon. I therefore borrowed clothes, a helmet, 
a sword, and even a pair of boots, from my two orderlies ; 
and I received instructions how to behave in the streets. 
I had to carry my sword in my left hand, the hilt turned 
downwards and a few inches behind my hip, the tip of the 
scabbard in front of me. In case I should meet any Cor- 
poral, non-commissioned officer, or officer, whether they 
belonged to my regiment or not, I was to salute them with 
the right hand, the elbow lifted high in the air, two steps 
before reaching them, bringing my hand down only when 
I had passed two steps beyond them. It was not without 
difficulty that I managed to get down the stairs into the 
barrack yard, and I found it still more difficult to walk 
about. The enormous weight and width of my trousers, 
the looseness of the boots which had been lent to me, their 
high heels and the spurs which caught at every step in the 
leather coverings of my elephantine trousers, the tightness 
of the tunic under the arms, and the wobbling of the hel- 
met, which was much too big for me, conspired to produce 
such a state of discomfort and insecurity that I only man- 
aged to walk with legs apart and arms held stiffly away 
from my body. I could hardly manage to hold my sword 

56 



TROOPER 3809 

with my No. 9 gloves, which were, moreover, as stiff as a 
board ; and I felt as awkward as a man who, for the first 
time in his life, tries to walk across a tight-rope. I had 
just reached, with much difficulty, the gate of the barracks, 
and was going to walk out, when a stentorian voice pro- 
ceeding from the guard-room suddenly stopped me. 

'' Hullo, you recruit, where are you going? " I looked 
over my shoulder and saw the Sergeant of the Guard. I 
turned round, saluted, and nearly lost my balance in doing 
so. " Come here, you booby ! " shouted the Sergeant. He 
examined me from head to foot. " Right about turn ! " 
he then said to me. It was easier said than done ; but I 
was already walking off when the Sergeant called me 
anew. *' Where are you going? " he said. 

'' Well, Sergeant, I am going into the town." 

" Oh, really, are you ? Turn round first, I want to look 
at your back." I turned and stood there for a minute or 
two. *' Go back to your room," said the Sergeant at 
last. 

'' But, Sergeant," I replied, " I thought that we were 
allowed to go out." 

'' Go back to your room," he said, laughing, " and ask 
your Corporal why I won't let you go out." Disconso- 
lately I trudged back to the room. There I was greeted 
with a roar of laughter from all the troopers. 

" So," they exclaimed, " the Sergeant has sent you 
back?" 

'* Yes, but why? " All the men shouted with laughter. 
I confess that I felt rather foolish. 

'' Come here, you recruit," good-naturedly said one of 
them at last, " let me brush you." And so saying he 
vigorously applied a brush to my back. It appears that 
before I went out one of the troopers had drawn a huge 
chalk cross on my tunic. I then learnt that before leaving 

57 



TROOPER 8809 

barracks, every trooper must present himself before the 
Sergeant of the Guard, who has to examine him, and see 
that he is properly groomed ; if anything is amiss in his 
uniform the Sergeant sends him back to put himself 
straight. This, I may add, often leads to considerable 
abuse of their power by certain Sergeants, for when one of 
them has a grudge against a man he will send him back 
five or six times to his room without telling him what 
he considers wrong in his attire — the regulations in no 
way compelling the Sergeant to explain to the trooper 
where he considers that the fault lies. I have seen a 
trooper sent back in this way to his room no less than 
eight times running. 

It was a pouring wet day, and when for the ninth time 
the Sergeant ordered him to return the trooper implored 
him to tell him what was wrong. 

*' You dirty pig," replied the Sergeant, *' look at your 
boots, they are covered with mud." The trooper, it must 
be mentioned, had to walk over a hundred yards from his 
room across the courtyard before reaching the gate, and 
irritated beyond measure by the injustice of the Sergeant, 
he asked, in a sarcastic tone, whether he was expected to 
carry an umbrella. 

'' If you like," added the man, " I'll go and fetch my 
brushes and brush my boots here, and then perhaps you 
will be satisfied ? " For that, answer the Sergeant gave the 
man four days' Salle de Police, stating in his report as a 
reason for that punishment that *' the trooper, after pre- 
senting himself nine times before the Sergeant of the 
Guard in a disgraceful state of filth, had grossly insulted 
the Sergeant who had remonstrated with- him." The 
trooper had often been punished before, and held a bad 
record, so, upon reading the Sergeant's report, the Colonel 
altered the punishment into thirty days' prison. 

S8 



TROOPER 3809 

But to return to myself. When I appeared once more 
before the Sergeant of the Guard, that non-commissioned 
officer, who was not a bad fellow after all, laughed at the 
trick that had been played on me and allowed me to go 
out. 

I shall always remember that first outing. I never 
realised how grotesque a figure I was cutting, until I met 
another Volontaire in the same plight as myself. I had, 
besides, been so terrified by the warning I had received 
not to fail to salute Corporals, especially of the infantry — 
as a feud always exists between infantry and cavalry — that 
whenever I saw a soldier with a red woollen stripe on his 
sleeve, I saluted at once. For this I was unmercifully 
chaffed by some troopers of my squadron who happened 
to pass while I was solemnly saluting an infantryman just 
adorned. They ultimately explained to me that only men 
with two stripes held the rank of Corporal, while those 
who had but a single stripe were merely first-class privates 
— i.e., men drawing higher pay for good conduct. For 
my blunder I had to pay a fine to my comrades, taking 
them to the nearest cafe to have a drink. 

Although we were not allowed to have rooms in the 
town, most of the Volontaires had engaged lodgings be- 
fore joining the regiment. As I have already said, I had 
engaged a room at the Crown Hotel, and, as every year 
the best set among the Volontaires had been in the habit 
of putting up there, special accommodation was reserved 
for them : even a private dining-room was retained for us, 
and when I arrived there that evening, I found six of my 
comrades having an appetiser in our special room. They 
were all young men of good and well-known families : be- 
sides Walter, of whom I have already spoken, there were 
Cuffet, whose father had been a Cabinet Minister a few 
years before ; Pager de la Tasherie, whose father had been 

59 



TROOPER 3809 

an Ambassador ; Meix, now the head of one of the largest 
engineering firms in France ; de Nevers, who succeeded, 
some years ago, to a dukedom, and a couple of others, also ■ 
of gentle birth. The greatest comfort we found at the 
hotel was the possibility of getting a tub, for we soon dis- 
covered the absolute lack of sanitary arrangements in our 
barracks. We had a pleasant dinner that night, and hav- 
ing taken ofif our tight-fitting tunics, we almost felt like 
civilised beings. We were, however, soon recalled to the 
reality of our position by the rolling of drums and the 
sounding of bugles. It was the tattoo. In every French 
garrison town, a quarter of an hour before soldiers have to 
be in barracks, the trumpeters, and, if there is an infantry 
regiment in the place, the buglers and drummers, assemble 
in the principal square and thence march back to barracks 
playing the rctraitc. We hurried over our coffee and re- 
turned to barracks. For fear of being late we walked as 
fast as we could, but one or two of us got entangled in our 
spurs or fell head over heels over our swords. 

I cannot possibly give an adequate idea of the horrible 
stench which caught me by the throat when I opened the 
door of " my " room. Imagine the odour of 80 human 
beings, 79 of which had not had a bath within the last 
three months, add to that the emanations from 160 pairs 
of boots which had been in use for an average of three 
years, sheets that had not been changed for a month, and 
crown the mixture with a smell of stables rising through 
the floor (our room stood over a stable containing 100 
horses), and you will perhaps be able to gather a faint idea 
of what the place smelt like. Five minutes after the 
trumpeters had returned to barracks the evening " call " 
took place. In the cavalry, troopers are not called by their 
individual names in the evening; but every trooper has 
either to stand at the foot of his bed in uniform if he has 

60 



TROOPER 3809 

been out, or in stable dress if he has not left barracks, or 
else he can be in bed if he chooses. The Sergeant of the 
Week walks through the room, each Corporal having to re- 
port with reference to absent men, whether they are on 
guard, or stable duty, on leave, or missing. When the 
Sergeant has been the round of a room, the men can do 
what they like throughout the barracks until lo p.m., when 
they must all be in bed at the bugle call of " Lights out." 
In my time the night call was at 8 p.m., but since General 
Boulanger was Minister of War soldiers have been al- 
lowed to stop out until 9 p.m. After the evening call we 
changed our clothes and the Volontaires collected in the 
canteen. This consisted of a large room, 30 feet by 20 ; a 
long table stood in the middle of it, with smaller tables on 
each side, forms running alongside of each. A kitchen 
opened on to this room, and the place was crowded. If 
the smell of our living-rooms was bad, the smell of the 
canteen was equally so : burnt fat, onions, garlic, wine, 
and bad tobacco furnished its chief components. A large 
number of men, and almost every Corporal of the various 
squadrons in which the Volontaires were serving, werecol- 
lected in the canteen in the hope — which was not deceived 
■ — of getting drinks from us. They chiefly appreciated red 
wine, which was sold at fivepence and sixpence a quart, 
superior wine fetching eightpence a quart. Brandy could 
be had at a halfpenny a glass, or is. 2d. the quart. These 
prices left a very good margin of profit to the canteen- 
keeper, as all wines and spirits sold in French barracks 
are exempt from excise duty. A table had been reserved 
for us, and there the fourteen Volontaires who were serv- 
ing that year met in the evening. 

That night our chief topic of discussion related to the 
Bienvemie (welcome), a canteen banquet offered by the 
Volontaires to the men and Corporals of their respective 

6i 



TROOPER 3800 

pclotons. It was at length settled that this should take 
place on the following Friday. 

At ten o'clock, when the trumpeters sounded " Lights 
out," we returned to our respective rooms, and for the first 
time I was taught how to get into a military bed. To do 
this properly is a fine art. The bed, as I have already men- 
tioned, was about two feet eight inches broad, and to 
guard against its occupant tumbling out blankets and 
sheets are tightly tucked under the straw mattress. In 
order to get in you have therefore to stand at the head of 
your bed, and to gently pull yourself inside as if you were 
getting into a bag. I got halfway down satisfactorily, but 
then, notwithstanding my efforts, I was unable to make 
further progress. Suspecting that a practical joke had 
been played on me, I got out of bed, and soon found that it 
had been prepared apple-pie fashion. While I was ex- 
amining rhy bed, I heard, not far from me, a tremendous 
noise, and saw the bed of one of my comrades rolling 
bodily on the floor. This is another favourite trick played 
on recruits, and easily accomplished. The bed consisting 
of three boards perched on two iron trestles, by pulling 
sharply the trestle which stands under the foot of the bed, 
the whole of it can be precipitated forward ; while the 
sleeper, thus suddenly aroused, is further terrified by see- 
ing the Corporal (who usually is a party to the joke) near 
him, threatening to send him to the cells for kicking up a 
row. In the present case the sufferer was the impecunious 
Volontaire whom I have already mentioned. The poor 
fellow had to make his bed anew in the dark — no easy 
matter. 

So far as I was concerned, I turned my attention to one 
of the troopers who had undertaken to look after me. He 
was a Parisian, a former street arab, and I suspected him 
of having prepared an apple-pie bed in order to have a 

62 



TROOPER 3809 

laugh at me. He pretended to be fast asleep, although I 
called him two or three times ; but I struck a match and 
caught him grinning. In order therefore to make him 
heed me, I went to the foot of his bed and, seizing the iron 
trestle, determined to bring the whole affair to the floor 
if he did not get up. This soon aroused him. 

" Look here, old chap," he exclaimed, '' you don't try 
any of these 'ere jokes on your seniors, or else you'll smart 
for it." 

" Well, Titi," I replied, " you've got to make my bed 
over again, so, after all, the joke you wanted to play on me 
has been wasted, for it only gives you extra trouble." 

At first he declined to touch my things, but, as I warned 
him that if he didn't do it he'd never get another tip from 
me, he reluctantly set to work. It took me a pretty long 
time to go to sleep that night ; my neiglibour snored like 
a pug dog, and a goodly number of the eighty nien who 
slept in the same room as myself, besides snoring, emitted 
such an atrocious effluvium that I did not feel able to go to 
sleep. It takes some time too, to get accustomed to the 
noise of stables, and I could hear quite distinctly the 
chargers below constantly kicking their stalls ; at last, 
however, I dropped to sleep from sheer exhaustion. 



63 



CHAPTER III 

At 5 o'clock in the morning I was aroused by a loud shout- 
ing; it was the Corporal of the Week who was passing 
through the room calling out, ''Any sick men here?" 
The names of the men who want medical attention have to 
be put down on the Sergeant-major's morning report, on 
which also figures the morning call, which is merely nom- 
inal, as it never takes place in the cavalry. Half an hour 
later the trumpeters sounded the reveille and immediately 
the various Corporals told off a certain number of men to 
go and clean the stables. I was one of those selected. 
Hastily I donned my stable suit, of coarse canvas, and 
when I reached the stables, was told off to clean the straw 
under four horses — my comrade Titi, who had accom- 
panied me, being ordered to show me how to proceed. 
Neither pitchforks nor shovels are used, the men having to 
separate with their hands the dry from the wet straw, and 
having also to pick out with their fingers whatever dung 
may be mixed with the litter. I scarcely relished this un- 
savory work, and as I did not consider it likely to improve 
in any way my military training, I tipped Titi a franc to 
do it for me, while I Vv^ent to the canteen to have a cup of 
coffee and a crust of bread. It may be noted here that 
before reveille a jug of very thin coffee, with a pretence of 
sugar added to it, was brought into the rooms, but few 
of the men cared to touch it. Those who were unable to 
afford the canteen preferred to break their fast with a 

64 



TROOPER 3809 

glass of water and a slice of bread — not that the charges 
of the canteen were high, for a cup of coffee (so called) 
and a roll of bread costs but three half-pence — but there 
exists an unwritten but inviolable law that no man may 
take a drink of any kind by himself. Fairc Suisse is the 
term used to describe the fact of going to the canteen 
alone, and this is considered a real crime, to be severely 
punished by the rest, so that a poor fellow who gets a few 
francs monthly from his people must always share them 
with a comrade. It is also a curious fact that, although 
most men complain of the scarcity of the food supplied to 
them, few will ever spend in victuals the money they may 
receive from home — they invariably consume it in drink. 
At 6 o'clock the trumpets sounded " Stables," so fetch- 
ing the bags containing our implements we returned to the 
stables to groom our chargers. Every man has often two 
horses to groom — his own charger as well as the horse of 
any trooper who may be on guard, or otherwise em- 
ployed.'^ Our chargers had not yet been allotted to us, so I 
was told to groom a lively little mare, which I afterwards 
found out enjoyed the reputation of being the most vicious 
charger of the whole squadron ; however, whether it was 
that I was not afraid of her, or that she instinctively felt 
that I loved horses, we got on very well together. The 
grooming lasted for an hour, and towards 7 o'clock the 
Lieutenant of the Week turned up and gave orders for the 
horses to be taken to the watering-tanks. As I was lead- 
ing out the mare I had been grooming I was ordered by 
the Lieutenant to also lead two other chargers ; holding 
their reins in my right hand, I tried to jump on the bare 

* Non-commissioned officers do not groom their own chargers ; they 
are allowed an orderly, to whom they pay 2s. per month. Corporals 
are supposed to groom their chargers, but usually order a trooper to 
do so, 

65 



TROOPER 3809 

back of the little mare — she was called " Durance " after 
the name of a torrent in the South of France, and she 
well deserved her appellation. The moment I caught hold 
of her mane to jump on her back she plunged, and, jump- 
ing back a few steps, nearly brought her reins over her 
head. Twice she played me the same trick, and at the 
same time the other horses, whose reins I held, pulled 
away from her, but the third time I landed on her back, 
and although she tried buck- jumping, I easily rode her 
with the other animals to the watering-tank. When I re- 
turned she was lively enough, but it was all play and not 
vice: and when I jumped off her back the Lieutenant 
called me. 

*' How do you like the mare? " he asked. 

*' Very much indeed, sir," I replied. 

*' Would you like her as your charger? " 

" Certainly," I said. 

" Very well," said the officer, " you shall have her, as 
you seem to be able to ride." 

I was quite delighted, and very soon made friends with 
the little beast (she was hardly 15 hands high) ; she came 
to know me so well that at the end of a few months she 
used to follow me about like a dog. She was, it is true, very 
vicious at times, and would not let certain men come near 
her ; she also had a hatred of officers, as years before she 
had been one of the Surgeon-major's chargers, and the 
fellow used to thrash her unmercifully. She was one of 
the oldest chargers in the regiment — being eighteen years 
old — and originally came from Hungary, where many 
horses were bought just after the Franco-Prussian war, 
but notwithstanding her age, she was full of " go " and of 
play. We became such good friends that many a time 
when I was on stable guard I used to lie alongside of her, 
my head resting on her neck, and she would remain quite 

66 



TROOPER 3809 

still for hours until I moved. I always bought extra food 
for her, and kept her in tip-top condition. 

After '' stables " we were taken to get our arms and sad- 
dlery, and shown how to take our carbines to pieces and 
put them together again. We then had the gras carbine, 
which has lon,o: since been discarded. 

At the call of " Soup " ( lo a.m.) the troopers rushed off 
to the kitchen, and wishing to taste regimental food, I told 
Titi to bring me my ration, and waited until it arrived. In 
those days food came from the kitchen in what was called 
a gam die — a stout tin pot in the shape of a saucepan, with- 
out a handle, but with a tin cover. Each man found his 
ration ready in the kitchen, with an allowance of salt on 
the lid of the gainellc ; the fare consisted that morning of 
thin soup which tasted like sloppy water in which dishes 
might have been washed, w^ith lumps of bread soaked in it 
and a little fat floating about in cold lumps. At the bottom 
of the pan was a bit of bone with very little meat on it, the 
ration of meat allowed to each man beins: four ounces 
including bone. The mere sight of that so-called soup and 
the filthiness of the pan wdiich contained it, was too much 
for me. However ill-fed the men were, very few of them 
could ever finish the whole of their ration. When a man 
had finished eating he chucked his gam die into a corner, 
a trooper being told off every day to take the tins back to 
the kitchen. In my time men had to feed on their beds, 
but since the days of General Boulanger things have, as I 
stated before, greatly altered. The men now eat at table, 
the food is served in dishes, and the man at the head of 
each table, who is generally a Corporal, helps each man on 
his own enamelled plate. 

To return to my own experiences : I went to the can- 
teen to get something to eat. Most of the other Volon- 
taires were already there, and, although the place was hor- 

67 



TROOPER 3809 

ribly dirty, I ate with great relish a couple of cutlets. We 
tried the various brands of wine ; that at fivepence a bot- 
tle was more suitable for use as a dye than as a beverage, 
but the one at sixpence was quite drinkable, and the one at 
eightpence quite equal to the so-called claret sold at two 
shillings a bottle in second-rate London restaurants. We 
discovered that the canteen-keeper had a yet better brand 
at a shilling a bottle, and this was really very good. It 
was a genuine bottled wine, and not drawn from the cask 
like the others. During my stay in the regiment I was 
much struck with the fact that hardly any beer is drunk by 
Frenchmen belonging to the lower classes. To see troop- 
ers drinking it was quite exceptional ; wine was their 
staple drink, except when they wanted to get drunk, in 
which case they went in for brandy, which was served in 
flasks holding about two-thirds of a pint and costing four- 
pence. It took about a pint and a quarter of this stuff to 
have the desired effect. 

It was nearly ii a.m. before we had finished our break- 
fast, and I then returned to my quarters, most anxious to 
have a wash, which I had so far been obliged to do with- 
out. I asked Titi where the lavatory was. 

*' Lavatory ! " he laughed out ; " his highness wants a 
lavatory. You'll get a lavatory in barracks, old chap. 
What else do you want ? — a valet to dress your royal high- 
ness? " 

'' But," I said, " isn't there any place where I can go 
and have a wash ? " 

"Oh ! yes, there's the pump." 

This seemed rather unsatisfactory, and I could hardly 
believe it to be the case, so I went to the room of my friend 
Sergeant de Lanoy and asked him about it. 

''It's quite true, old man," he replied ; " lavatories do 
exist in the barracks, but they have never been utilised 

68 



TROOPER 3809 

since '70, and are now used for storing straw, so that the 
only place where you can go and have a wash is at the 
pump. If I were alone in my room," he added, " I would 
lend it to you, but the other Sergeant who lives with me 
is a beast, and he would kick up a row if he found you 
performing your ablutions here." 

I had therefore to go to the pump, and fortunately found 
a bucket near at hand, so that I managed to wash at least 
the upper portion of my body. 

There is in each squadron a barber, who has to shave, 
free of cost, every trooper twice a week ; but the mere 
sight of the fellow, to say nothing of his implements, was 
enough. It is impossible to realise how men can live in 
the state of filth which seems natural to French soldiers. 
Hardly one of them ever thinks of washing his hands after 
cleaning the stables in the way I have previously de- 
scribed ; occasionally some of them wash their faces, 
necks, and hands on Sundays, or when they have to ap- 
pear on parade, but many of them remain all the year 
round (except in the summer season, when they are sent 
in batches to the swimming baths) without taking a single 
bath or feeling the want of one. It will be seen how, later 
on, when we were permanently consigned to barracks, I 
had to get special leave from the doctor to be able to go 
out and have a bath in the town. 

At twelve o'clock we were all taken to the dispensary to 
be vaccinated, vaccination being compulsory throughout 
the French army. That operation concluded, we were 
taught to fold our clothes and shown how to arrange them 
on the shelves above our bed. At 3 p.m. we returned to 
stables, after which the Sergeant-major made us stand in 
a circle round him while the regimental orders of the day 
were read out by the Corporal fourrier, all the punish- 

69 



TROOPER 3809 

ments Inflicted upon officers, non-commissioned officers, 
and troopers being announced at the end of the orders. 

It has always struck me as a great mistake to let privates 
learn the punishments inflicted upon officers, as this, of 
course, tends to lower them in the eyes of their men. That 
day, for instance, I was much astonished to hear that one 
of the Captains of the regiment had been punished by the 
Colonel with fifteen days of arrets de rigueur (strict con- 
finement to his room, with a sentry in front of his door) 
" for," said the orders, *' having been seen walking about 
in a drunken state, with his uniform in disarray, at ten 
o'clock at night." This Captain was greatly hated by the 
men, and it Is needless to say that they all rejoiced at the 
punishment which had been Inflicted upon him, express- 
ing their feelings in the coarsest language. 

'' Stables " over, we hurried to the town, and our set 
met as usual at the Crown Hotel, where we exchanged im- 
pressions on military service. We were all unanimous in 
declaring It a filthy and disgusting ordeal. After the even- 
ing call, we entertained our respective Corporals at the 
canteen, most of them having to be supported back to their 
beds. 

The following day was enlivened by the arrival of the 
ordinary recruits coming to serve their five years. Most 
of them came from Paris, and belonged to the worst set of 
ruffians imaginable. A few were countrymen, among 
whom were two or three stupid '' Bretons " coming from 
the remotest parts of Brittany. One of the latter was as- 
signed a bed next to the " old 'un," and therefore close to 
mine. As soon as he had eaten his evening meal, he sat on 
his bed, weeping bitterly, and as I asked him the cause of 
his grief he began with deep sobs : 

'* Our poor Jeanne ; it's the day she ought to calve, and 

70 



TROOPER 3809 

to think that I shall not be near her! If you saw that 
cow, sir " 

" Oh ! it's a cow ! " 

*' Yes, sir, and when she calves she won't take any food 
except from my hand, and now I am here, and she calving ! 
My poor Jeanne, my poor Jeanne ! " 

I tried to console him, but it was in vain. Of course, 
the other troopers made great fun of him, and one of them 
remarked that if his cow was as ugly as himself, and as 
ill-fed, she must be a hideous beast indeed. This drove 
the fellow into an absolute frenzy, and, seizing the sword 
hanging at the head of my bed, he would have made dead- 
ly use of it had I not forcibly prevented him. 

The recruits went, that day, through the routine we had 
undergone on the day of our arrival — the only difference 
being that they were marched in batches to the Capitain- 
tresoricr's office under the command of a Sergeant — and 
before evening every one of them had been drafted into a 
squadron, each recruit being put under the care of a 
trooper of at least a year's standing, who had to teach his 
hleii (recruit) what to do. The recruits, upon receiving 
their outfit, have to hand over their civilian clothes, which 
are sold by auction. This rule did not, however, apply to 
the Volontaires, but we had to remove our civilian clothes 
out of barracks, and were, under no circumstances, al- 
lowed to wear anything but uniform. 

That year the recruits numbered about 125, or twenty- 
five to each squadron. 

That night the most elaborate practical jokes were 
played on the new-comers. First of all an " artful 
dodger," a typical Parisian blackguard, attired himself in 
a great coat and an old cocked hat ; alongside of him 
marched two troopers w^ith swords, helmets, and carbines, 
but devoid of all clothing. The " Artful dodger " went 

71 



TROOPER 3809 

to the bed of each one of the recruits. " Get up," said 
another trooper, "here comes the Surgeon-major." ''You 
are a recruit, my boy?" queried the "Artful dodger." 
" Yes, sir," usually replied the recruit, rather awed. 
" Don't call me * sir,' " went on the tormentor, " call me 
* Monsieur le Major.' " (The way in which military 
surgeons are addressed.) " Get out of bed," he went on, 
" and be sharp about it." If the recruit declined to obey, 
he was dragged out of his bed by other troopers and 
stripped ; many foul questions were then put to him, and 
the joke ended by his body being blackened all over with a 
blacking-brush if he took the proceedings ill. When the 
recruits had gone back to bed, the " dodger " and his com- 
panions proceeded to play other jokes on them. 

In order to enable my readers to understand what took 
place, it is necessary to recall the description of our rooms. 
These apartments were about loo feet long, with two par- 
titions on each side of the centre, and rows of beds stand- 
ing on each side of these partitions, which were from lo 
to 12 feet high. The " dodger " and his companions, tak- 
ing a forage-rope, with which every trooper is provided, 
tied a slip-knot around the bed of the recruit, so as to 
encircle the three boards forming the base of the bed as 
well as the mattress and the feet of the man inside it ; the 
end of the rope was then thrown over the partition, being 
grasped on the other side by three or four men, while the 
" artful one " was peeping round the corner to see that 
the man had not moved. He then gave a whistle, the rope 
was smartly pulled, and the recruit's bed instantly stood 
straight up against the wall, the man inside it being tightly 
imprisoned with his feet held up in the air by the slip-knot 
and his head downwards. After leaving him for a few 
minutes in this uncomfortable position, the rope was sud- 
denly slackened, and bed and man crashed with a great 

72 



TROOPER 3809 

noise to the floor. This was called " sending a man to 
heaven," and the unfortunate victim could not possibly 
find out who was responsible for the ''joke." 

Another trick consisted in sticking a carbine-rod be- 
tween the shelf and the clothes on it, over the recruit's 
head, so that the end of the rod projected above the fel- 
low's face ; a drinking-cup filled with water was then 
slung from the gun-rod by two strings fastened round its 
rim, while a third and independent string attached its 
handle to the rod. A piece of lighted paper was then 
placed on the top of the water, and before it had time to 
go out it burnt the two first strings, tilting the water down 
as the cup remained suspended by its handle. The half 
minute or so which elapsed between the lighting of the 
paper and the burning of the strings, enabled the men 
who had played the trick to get back to bed, so that the 
poor fellow whose face had been deluged with water was 
unable to find out who his persecutors were. 

In every case when the recruit made a noise, the Cor- 
poral, who was invariably a consenting party to these 
rough " amusements," came forward and threatened to 
send him to the cells for disturbing his comrades. Of 
course, to complain to the ofiicers was considered by the 
troopers a heinous crime, and whoever did so was never 
tempted to adopt that course again. 

That same night one of the recruits whose bed had been 
sent '' heavenwards " rushed to the Sergeant's room and 
complained. The Sergeant came to our quarters, and 
shouted in a loud voice, '' Look here, you fellows, here's 
a recruit who has come to complain to me of having been 
bullied, as we have all been on joining the regiment ; you 
had better leave him alone, and don't let him disturb me 
any more." Thereupon, knowing well what the result 
would be, the Sergeant retired to his room. Immediately a 

73 



TROOPER 3809 

blanket was produced, round which from twelve to fifteen 
men stood holding it, while four other men collared the 
recruit and chucked him into it. Before he knew where 
he was, he had been sent flying up to the ceiling, and as 
soon as he dropped into the blanket was again sent up, the 
operation being repeated a dozen times until all the breath 
had nearly left the poor fellow's body. The same mis- 
fortune, I am sorry to say, befell me that very night. A 
trooper from the second squadron, whose room was close 
to mine, sneaked in and pulled my bed down. I saw him 
go back to his room, and as soon as he had got under the 
blankets without noticing me, I pulled his bed down with 
a crash ; but some other fellows had seen me, and, unfort- 
unately for myself, I was ignorant at the time of the un- 
written law that no practical jokes may be played on the 
men of a squadron different from one's own, so, before I 
realised where I was, I was chucked into a blanket and 
tossed more than once into the air. I must, however, add 
that the thing was purely done as a joke, and with no ill- 
feeling — the bed, indeed, that I had pulled down was that 
of my friend, Walter. I found it by no means a disagree- 
able sensation to be tossed in a blanket, but I can quite 
understand that a repetition of the performance, a dozen 
times or more, may shake a man more than he mav 
like. 

The following day we began to drill. After morning- 
stables we were hurried to our rooms. We kept on our 
stable-dress, but had to exchange our clogs for boots, al- 
though we were allowed to wear ordinary shoes if we 
possessed any. We assembled in the barrack-square, 
Volontaires and recruits together, and three or four of us 
were told off under the orders of a Corporal, who pro- 
ceeded to explain to us the difference between our left and 
right leg. However absurd this may seem, it is absolutely 

74 



TROOPER 3809 

necessary In the case of many recruits coming from remote 
districts in the provinces, and I have known some of them 
to take a fortnight before they reaHsed the difference be- 
tween left and right. 

We went through the various preHmlnaries of drill, we 
were taught to stand in line, to execute " By the left quick 
march," " Right turn," " Left turn," " Right about turn " 
and so on — preliminary exercises, which are the same in 
all the armies of the world. At the end of two hours, at 
the call of " Soup," we were to our great relief at last dis- 
missed. 

At II A.M. we were put through the first elements of 
voltige (circus-riding). A specially-trained horse was 
brought into the riding-school, and while its foreleg was 
held up by a trooper, the others had to jump on its back 
from behind, leap-frog fashion. It was most amusing to 
see the efforts of some of the recruits to accomplish this 
feat, most of them at first rushing as hard as they could 
towards the horse, and ending by merely striking their 
noses against its tail ; as, however, every man who failed 
to ultimately succeed in getting on the horse's back was 
sent to sleep in the cells, very few of us remained unsuc- 
cessful. We were afterwards placed on a bare-backed 
horse around which was buckled a surcingle with two 
handles — a non-commissioned officer holding the animal 
at the end of a long rope so as to make him canter in a 
circle. We had to jump on and off while the animal was 
cantering, and those who failed, or did not try their best, 
were usually rewarded with a smart cut from the huge 
circus-whip which the non-commissioned officer carried 
in his hand. We had also to repeat the same performance 
on a broad circus saddle, and many were those who, tak- 
ing too powerful a spring, were sent flying outside the 
circle. These were merely preliminary exercises, how- 

75 



TROOPER 3809 

ever, and I will describe later on others we were called 
upon to do in the same way. 

Among the recruits there was one so clumsy that he 
could never manage to alight on the horse's back, and no 
amount of assistance seemed to be of any use to him. The 
Sergeant threatened to send the man to the lock-up, but he 
looked so helplessly stupid, and made such simple and 
amusing excuses, that his instructor could not find it in 
his heart to punish him. When placed on the bare-backed 
steed, he clung to the surcingle like a monkey, and upon 
being told to jump off, he rolled like an untidy bundle to 
the ground. The Sergeant began to lose his temper, and 
warned the man that if he failed to get on again he would 
certainly be punished. Thereupon the recruit caught 
hold of the handle and ran round the ring alongside of 
the cantering horse ; at last, with a mighty effort, he got 
his knee upon the animal's back and finally sat there, look- 
ing half exhausted. 

'' Now," said the Sergeant, " you see you can do it ; 
jump off and try again." 

Clumsily the recruit got down, and tripping, fell on his 
knees at the Sergeant's feet. 

" Now then, up you get! " cried the Sergeant; " jump 
on once more." 

"Jump on?" replied the recruit dreamily, as though 
just aroused from a reverie ; " well, here goes! " 

And so saying, he took a mighty bound, and alighted on 
Ins feet on the back of the cantering horse! In another 
moment, turning a splendid somersault, he reached the 
ground, and stood composedly before the astonished Ser- 
geant, amidst universal laughter and applause. 

" You have been fooling me ! " cried the latter, when 
he could find words. 

** Forgive me, Sergeant," said the fellow in reply ; " you 

76 



TROOPER 3809 

see, it isn't easy for a man to forget his business all at 
once; and the fact is, I have been a clown. Houp-la ! " 
And, taking a short run, he this time turned a somersault 
right over the still cantering horse. I may add that the 
ex-clown became a great favourite wath all the officers, 
and was certainly one of the most wonderful trick-riders 
I have ever seen. 

After voltige we were allowed some rest, and before 
'' Stables " we had an hour's physical drill. This con- 
sisted of bending the body downwards with extended 
arms, bending the knees with uplifted arms, and other 
exercises which are taught in every English and foreign 
gymnasium. A curious part of the performance con- 
sisted, however, in the principles of French boxing. The 
position in which we w'ere placed would have been the 
joy of any English schoolboy ; we were told to put our legs 
well apart, one foot twenty inches behind the other, the 
left arm level with our chin, and the right arm a little 
lower. The first movement consisted in striking forward 
with the right fist. We then had to bring forward the 
right leg, which had been extended the whole time behind 
the left ; as we brought the right leg forward we had' to 
strike it against the calf of our left leg, so as to give a 
powerful kick with the heel, which then described a circle, 
bringing our right foot twenty inches behind the left. 
Such is what is called " French boxing." 

In the evening, after " Soup," we were taken to the 
riding-school, having to dress for the purpose in undress 
uniform — namely, the red trousers with leather covering 
which I have previously described, a short jacket, a kepi, 
and white gloves — pieces of rags being tied round the 
rowels of our spurs. We were first taught how to dress 
in line, and how to stand at our horse's head. At the 
command of " Prepare to mount ! " we had to take a long 

77 



TROOPER 3809 

step backwards, slipping the reins through our left hand 
and catching hold of the mane with it while we seized the 
pommel of the saddle with the right, and at the command 
" Mount ! " we had to raise ourselves well up (our weight 
resting on the wrists), and then throw the right leg over 
the saddle. Many of us were unable to get on our horses 
in this way without a good deal of shoving up by the Cor- 
porals. Once on our horses, the position we had to as- 
sume was explained, and we were also taught how to hold 
our reins and how to direct our animals (we had only a 
snaffle on our bridles). We were then marched in Indian 
file after a Corporal all round the riding-school. Most of 
the recruits knew something about horses, as those drafted 
into the cavalry are usually picked out from amongst 
farm hands, carters, or men who have had something to 
do with stables. Some of them, however, had never been 
on a horse in their lives, and when the command '' Trot ! " 
was given, two or three very soon tumbled off. I had 
been warned beforehand by my friend, de Lanoy, that the 
looseness and roughness of our military trousers would 
cause me serious abrasions unless I adopted a plan which 
had succeeded admirably with him. I had accordingly 
brought with me when I joined the regiment a few pairs 
of thin doeskin riding-breeches, which I put on before 
dressing to go to the riding-school, and over these I pulled 
my trousers, an easy matter if one considers the abnormal 
size of the latter. I congratulated myself many a time 
afterwards upon having adopted this plan, as I was the 
only man who never was galled. 

At the end of an hour we were dismissed, and having 
taken back our horses to the stables, we were shown how 
to rub them down with straw, and we then returned to 
our room, carrying our saddles on our heads. 

It was that night that the Bienveniie (welcome supper) 

73 



TROOPER 3809 

was to take place. The evening " call " over, we there- 
fore repaired to the canteen, where the fourteen Volon- 
taires sat down with about one hundred and twenty of the 
Corporals and troopers belonging to their respective pelo- 
tons. As one canteen would not have been able to ac- 
commodate this number, it was arranged that as there 
were two canteens in our regiment, the Volontaires of the 
first and second squadrons should give their Bienvenue in 
one, while those of the third and fourth squadrons would 
use the other. 

We accordingly sat down with about sixty of our guests, 
the Corporals and troopers of our companies. Tables had 
been laid in a large room and we crowded around them. 
Cold meats, sausages, coffee, with wine and brandy ad 
libitum, formed the bill of fare. As the meal proceeded, 
and the men helped themselves to a liberal quantity of 
wine, they became more and more noisy. At last one of 
the Corporals, although very drunk, stood on a form and 
demanded '' Order," adding that the company would now 
be favoured with a few songs ; and at the same time call- 
ing upon anybody who could sing to add to the pleasure 
of the entertainment. Nobody responded, so, rising once 
more, the Corporal, after swallowing a large glass of 
brandy to steady himself, began in a drunken and cracked 
voice to sing a sentimental ditty, an old and simple coun- 
try song which, although interrupted by many hiccups, 
was greeted with much applause. Next came a lanky 
country bumpkin whose regimental training had been un- 
able to obliterate his countrified appearance ; he sang, with 
the utmost monotony and an innumerable number of false 
notes, an atrociously indecent song, the coarseness of 
which had evidently never struck him. Every one of the 
troopers took up the chorus, which they all sang in differ- 
ent keys, but with marvellous seriousness. Then came 

79 



TROOPER 3809 

the turn of a Parisian ruffian, who sang in a voice of 
thunder an old and also very obscene regimental song, of 
course with a chorus ; he could, however, not get further 
than the second verse, for in the middle of this he col- 
lapsed on the floor, and interrupted for a moment the 
gaiety of the proceedings by so noisy an attack of sickness 
that the whole distinguished company called for his re- 
moval. (We found him later on soundly asleep on a 
dung-heap in the barrack-yard.) After his removal, an- 
other trooper, also a countryman, sang a religious song, 
with a mournful tune, which ran into more than twenty 
verses, but was greatly appreciated. At this point the 
delightful proceedings were once more interrupted — this 
time by a fight between two Corporals. They went for 
each other like madmen, kicking, scratching, and biting 
one another. They were, however, too drunk to hurt each 
other much, and everything would have concluded peace- 
fully had not the quarrel degenerated into a free fight, 
which resulted in the smashing of a good many glasses 
and plates, for wdiich we had, of course, to pay. The 
whole bill, however, only amounted to about 35^. for each 
one of the Volontaires. Before the call of " Lights out " 
peace had been restored, and the whole company ad- 
journed to their respective rooms, most of the troopers 
supporting (?) one another and collapsing a good many 
times on the way. I shall never forget the scene when 
we got near the dung-heap. We discovered the fellow 
of whom I spoke just now, fast asleep in the mire, and 
four or five of his comrades volunteered to get him out, 
but, being as drunk as himself, they all fell in a heap on 
top of him, and it was only with great difficulty that they 
were extracted from the filth and, in a state that I dare 
not describe, carried to their room. Some of the men 
who were boisterously drunk were sent to pass the night 

80 



TROOPER 3809 

in the cells by a Corporal who resented not having been 
invited, and having thus missed the chance of a good 
" booze." 

On Friday, at ii o'clock in the morning, the trum- 
peters sounded " Forage," and we were all paraded in the 
yard, each one of us carrying his forage-rope. (Sergeant 
de Lanoy had previously told me that he couldn't excuse 
me from this work, but he promised that he would man- 
age to let me slip off in the middle of it.) We were then 
marched to the forage-store, some two hundred yards 
away from the barracks ; and there stood the officers of 
the week of each squadron, whose duty it was to get de- 
livery of the forage required for the next seven days. 
Each of the troopers was told to pick out of a heap eight 
huge bundles of straw, and to fasten them together with 
his forage-rope, the end of which is fitted with a kind of 
metal pulley so as to form a slip-knot. The rope being 
thus tied round the eight bundles of straw, we were sup- 
posed to take the load on our shoulders and to carry it to 
the squadron store. To peasants and men of the lower 
classes, such as were most of the troopers, men who had 
been accustomed from their boyhood to carry heavy and 
cumbrous loads, this entailed merely a little extra exer- 
tion, but to one who, like myself, had never been used to 
manual work, it was almost an impossible task. The 
other troopers enjoyed, of course, the sight of a gentle- 
man carrying on his back a cumbersome weight of nearly 
one hundred and sixty pounds. I did my best to go on 
with it, but I had not covered fifty yards before one of 
the bundles began to drop out of the heap, and the whole 
load soon came to the ground. I did my best to tie it 
together again, but when it came to hoisting it on to my 
back I found that it was out of the question. In vain did 
I ask some of the troopers who had already carried one 

8i 



TROOPER 3809 

load, and were returning to the stores, to help me ; they 
all laughed, but none of them would give me a hand. To 
my great relief, however, my friend Titi soon appeared 
on the scene, and, telling me to wait a few minutes, he 
promised that when he returned with his own load he 
would relieve me of a few bundles. While I was waiting 
for him a Captain chanced to pass ; I saluted him, but he 
did not return my salute, and merely said : 

** What the devil are you doing here? " 

" I cannot manage to carry my load, sir," I replied. 

** Now catch hold of it at once, you blasted lazy beg- 
gar ! " he cried, standing in front of me, and waiting to 
see me execute his order. 

I renewed my efforts, but was unable to hoist the 
enormous bundle on to my shoulders. The Captain then 
called out to two troopers who happened to pass by: 
" Stick me that load on that lazy dog's shoulders ! " he 
said to them. They lifted the bundle, and dropping it on 
the top of my head before I was prepared for it, they 
brought me to the ground under the heap. This put the 
Captain in a fury ; he swore at me and cursed me, and 
said that it was all obstinacy on my part, and that I would 

*' d d well have to carry it." At last I managed to get 

it on my shoulders, and went twenty-five yards farther 
with it ; but it was too much for me, and I had to put it 
down once more. Fortunately, the Captain had disap- 
peared, and Titi soon came to my relief. Although he 
was carrying seven bundles, he took three of mine, and I 
was then able to carry the five remaining ones as far as 
the squadron stores. These, I found to my astonishment, 
to have been originally built as a lavatory, with a number 
of large basins for the use of the men. I stopped there a 
little while, hoping to escape a repetition of my previous 

82 



TROOPER 3800 

experience, when our Sergeant-major looked into the 
place. 

*' What are you doing there, you lazy dog? " (the actual 
expression which is constantly used in French regimen- 
tal slang, by officers and non-commissioned officers alike, 
cannot be translated into English for more than one rea- 
son). 

In reply to the Sergeant-major's civil question I told 
him that I was putting the straw in order, but he told me 
to return at once to the stores. All the straw had already 
been carried away, so I was told off to carry four bundles 
of hay, each one of them tied up in the shape of a ball 
and weighing about fifty pounds. I told the Corporal that 
I should be unable to bear such a weight, especially con- 
sidering the enormous size of the load. Ele abused me, 
called me a lazy dog, and as he was raising his voice an 
officer came to see what was the matter. 

*' The fellow refuses to carry his load," said the Cor- 
poral. 

'' Refuses ! " exclaimed the officer. 

" No, sir," I interrupted ; " I merely said that I was un- 
able to bear the weight of such a load." 

The officer, who was one of the exceptionally just and 
gentlemanly lieutenants in our regiment, told me to try 
and carry two bundles, and to show him that I appreciated 
his manner towards me, I did my best to go on with them. 
I only succeeded, however, in going half way to the bar- 
racks, and then I tipped another trooper to carry my load 
as far as the stores. I escaped having to carry any more, 
de Lanoy having considerately ordered me to sweep the 
straw in front of the buildings. 

The following days were devoted to drill, stables, and 
the routine I have already described ; on Sundays we had 
no drill, but, unless we had obtained leave, we had to at- 

83 



TROOPER 3809 

tend stables. The first Sunday, I obtained midnight 
leave, so that I was able to have a quiet dinner and to 
enjoy the luxury of a thoroughly good wash. The sec- 
ond week passed off very much in the same way, but at 
the end of it I obtained twenty-four hours' leave, so that 
I was enabled to go to Paris. I can hardly describe the 
delight I felt at wearing civilian clothes, in which I felt a 
gentleman once more. 



84 



CHAPTER IV 

At the end of about three weeks the Colonel decided to 
form the Volontaircs into a separate peloton, as, according 
to the usual custom, they had to follow a special course of 
instruction besides learning the ordinary regimental duties 
of a trooper. A Sergeant, assisted by a Corporal, was 
put in charge of us under a Captain selected to supervise 
our instruction. Sergeant Legros, who was placed in 
command of the Volontaires, was well known as one of 
the sulkiest brutes in the whole regiment. Our Captain, 
whose name was Hermann, was the Colonel's nephew. 
When this " decision " appeared in the regimental orders, 
read after " Stables," all the troopers had a good laugh 
at us. '' Well, old chaps," they said, '* now you're going 
to have a grand time of it. By Jove, won't you ! " 

I went to de Lanoy's room and asked him what sort of 
a fellow Legros was. De Lanoy told me that he was the 
son of a small farmicr, and was a stubborn, vindictive man, 
who positively enjoyed punishing his men and doing a bad 
turn to his fellow Sergeants whenever he got a chance. 
This picture, indeed, was but too accurately drawn. Our 
Captain was in command of my own squadron, and I had 
already had a specimen of his manners when I went be- 
fore him to try on my clothes. Notwithstanding his 
rough and abrupt manners, I must concede that he was 
a gentleman ; but, unfortunately, for the future he scarce- 
ly ever came to see us, and left to the Sergeant the entire 
control of the Volontaircs, merely signing the daily re- 

85 



TROOPER 3809 

ports drawn up by Legros. The following day the Colo- 
nel paid one of his rare visits to the barracks, and had the 
Volontaires mustered in the riding-school. We waited 
there for him more than an hour. When he appeared he 
walked past us, surveying each one of us with a disgusted 
look on his face. He was a harsh, stout, sulky-looking 
officer. For a few minutes he walked up and down in 
front of us, talking with our Captain and striking his boot 
with his riding-stick. Then, suddenly turning towards 
us with one hand in his pocket and the other on the handle 
of his riding-whip, which was stuck under his arm, he 
addressed us. 

" So," he said, " you're the Volontaires who have been 
sent to demoralise my regiment. Well, there are a few 
things I want you to remember; you are serving five 
times less than other troopers ; you will therefore have 
five times more work, fiVe times more punishments, and 
five times less leave than the rest." Then turning towards 
the non-commissioned officer: ''Dismiss your men," he 
said, and at the same time he walked away with our Cap- 
tain. Before dismissing us our Sergeant also thought fit 
to address us : '' You are now going to be under my or- 
ders," he began, " and you may have been told that the 
Volontaires who served last year had a good time of it, 
but if you think that you are going to be treated as they 
were, you are jolly well mistaken. I mean to make you 
work, and to make you work hard too. There are a few 
hard-mouthed ones among you. I will use the curb with 
them so as to soon break them in." With these words he 
dismissed us. 

As we were running off to the canteen he recalled us. 

" At eleven o'clock," he said, " you will have to be at 
the gymnasium without arms." So saying, he dismissed 
us once more. It was then a quarter to eleven, so that we 

86 



TROOPER 3809 

hardly had any time for our food. At eleven o'clock 
sharp we were all standing where he had ordered us, and 
the Corporal, having- dressed us in a single file, stood 
grumbling at not having had time for his meal. It was 
raining hard, and as the Sergeant had not appeared at the 
end of a quarter of an hour, the Corporal took us inside 
one of the stables. Nearly three-quarters of an hour 
elapsed before Legros turned up. He marched us to a 
room specially reserved as a schoolroom for Volontaires, 
and also used as a lecture-room for those troopers who 
aspired to pass the examination necessary for obtaining 
the rank of Corporal. 

At the end of the room stood a raised platform with a 
desk for the Sergeant, while we sat at tables, twelve to 
fourteen of which stood in pairs facing the Sergeant's 
desk. Having been ordered to take our seats, we placed 
ourselves as we liked, all those belonging to my set select- 
ing a table far away from the Sergeant's desk. He be- 
gan by giving us a list of books we were to purchase — 
viz. : 

1. " General Instructions as to the Service in Barracks" 
{Service Interieur des Troupes de Cavalerie). 

2. '' Cavalry Drill Regulations " (Reglcinent siir Ics 
Exercices de la Cavalerie). 

3. " The Duties of Cavalry in the Field " {Service de la 
Cavalerie en Campagne). 

4. ** Moral Duties of the Soldier." 

5. " Dismounted Cavalry Drill Regulations " {Regle- 
mcnt sur les Exercices de la Cavalerie a pied). 

Besides these there was another book, the title of which 
I cannot remember, and which is now out of print. This 
book contained most interesting information as to the 
composition of the French army, the details of the rations 
allowed to troopers, as well as the principles of topogra- 

87 



TROOPER 3809 

phy, and many other matters of use to soldiers. The Ser- 
geant then explained to us what our daily work would con- 
sist in. We should no longer have to groom our horses, 
except on Saturdays* and Sundays. But this was to be 
our time-table : 

From 6.30 A.M. to 8 a.m. school. 

From 8 to 10 a.m. drill on foot. 

From 10 to 11 a.m. breakfast. 

From II to 12, school. 

From 12 to i p.m. gymnastics. 

From I to 2 p.m. voltige (circus-riding). 

From 2.30 to 5 p.m. school. 

From 5 to 6 p.m. dinner. 

From 6 to 8 p.m. mounted drill. 
As will be seen by the above, we had only two hours to 
ourselves during the whole day, and we had absolutely no 
chance of being able to leave barracks. We were to begin 
this programme at once, but as it was necessary that we 
should purchase the books of which a list had been handed 
over to us, the Sergeant told us that we should have no 
voltige that day, but that we could, instead of it, go to the 
town to purchase our books. We hurried to dress, and 
at 2.30 every one of us was once more in the schoolroom. 
I The Sergeant, however, gave us leave to smoke during 
our lectures, a concession which we all greatly appre- 
ciated. We were first given to study " The Moral Duties 
of the Soldier." This little book begins with an outline 
of the origin of the first permanent French army created 
by Charles VII. in 1439. It tells how this army was re- 
cruited at first on the principle that each parish had to 
supply one man, and how this small force continuously and 
rapidly grew in numbers under the follov/ing reigns : how 
in the time of Louis XIV. the French army already num- 
* Saturday being inspection -day. 



TROOPER 3809 

bered 279,000 men; how Vaiiban, the greatest engineer 
of modern times, fortified the frontiers of France, drew up 
new rules for carrying on the siege of fortified places, 
and was alleged to be the inventor of bayonets ; how 
Louvois, when he became Minister of War, compelled the 
officers to be punctual in their service,, improved the arma- 
ments, erected the first barracks, established regular pay, 
and devised new uniforms. The book then went on to tell 
us that before the great Revolution of last century the 
active army was recruited by Recruiting Sergeants ; while 
the provincial militia consisted of men called under the flag 
by conscription, the poorer classes alone being compelled 
to serve. The highest commands were granted to incap- 
able courtiers, commissions being exclusively granted to 
noblemen ; corporal punishment was in force, and the con- 
dition of soldiers was a most miserable one. Thus deser- 
tions were of constant occurrence. With the Revolution 
came great changes ; the provincial militia was abolished 
and corporal punishment was suppressed, bravery and 
military worth entitled any citizen to reach the highest 
ranks ; and this enabled eminent soldiers to reveal them- 
selves — men such as Hoche, Kleber, Desaix, Jourdan, 
Massena, Lecourbe and many others, most of. whom be- 
came Field-Marshals and Generals under Napoleon. 

As will be seen, the drift of all this was to try and im- 
press our minds with the fact that we were entirely in- 
debted for our present happy (?) condition to the Repub- 
lic. This sketch was read to us by the Sergeant, who, 
taking no more interest in the m.atter than we did, soon 
stopped, and told us to read the remainder carefully, while 
he himself proceeded to enjoy a novel. The rest of the 
booklet contained a summary description of the various 
wars of the Republic, and of the First Empire, special 
stress being laid on the persistent antagonism of '' perfid- 

89 



TROOPER 8809 

ious Albion." A brief summary of the War of '70 was also 
given, concluding with these words : 

'* Do not let us forget this terrible lesson ; do not let us 
slumber in apparent security, lest on our awakening we 
find the soil of France invaded by the enemy. Let us 
therefore adopt and put in practice this fine motto, the 
basis of a strong army, 

" * Work and Discipline." " 

Then came a pompous dissertation on the duties of 
citizens towards La Patrie, and on the duties of soldiers 
towards their superiors, beginning thus : 

" What is subordination and discipline ? " The answer 
consisted of three pages of high-sounding phrases, among 
which I may quote the following : *' Orders must be exe- 
cuted to the letter without hesitation or murmuring, the 
authority from which orders come being alone responsible 
for them ; the inferior has only the right to complain after 
he has obeyed and carried ont his orders . . . unques- 
tioning and blind obedience is absolutely necessary to en- 
able every individual effort to work towards a common 
aim." 

Curiously enough, duelling is officially countenanced in 
these regulations, which are still in force : '* If a soldier 
has been gravely insulted by one of his comrades, and 
the insult has taken place in public, he must not hesitate 
to claim reparation for it by a duel. He should address 
his demand to his Captain, who should transmit it to the 
Colonel ; but it must not be forgotten that duels must be 
the exception, and that a good soldier ought to avoid 
quarrels." The passage relating to cleanliness is rather 
interesting: ** Troopers are sent to the swimming-baths 
in the summer, and are allowed to have tepid baths in win- 
ter, in order to scrape off the deposit formed on the surface 

90 



TROOPER 3809 

of the body by perspiration and dirt (sic).'^ I must add 
that, as in many other cases, theory and practice differ 
vastly, for in my time there existed but one dilapidated 
bath in the whole of our barracks, where 1600 men were 
quartered. No appliance for admitting hot water into the 
bath existed, so that, when it had to be used for a sick 
man, hot water had to be carried from the nearest kitchen 
300 yards away ! I need dwell no longer on this little book, 
evidently written with the best intentions, but entirely 
ignored by every French soldier. 

At the end of an hour or so the Sergeant closed his 
novel, and told us to learn by heart two pages of the regu- 
lations dealing with drill on foot. In order to show how 
narrow-minded Sergeant Legros was, I must mention that 
he expected us to learn verbatim every single sentence of 
those regulations. So far as I am concerned (and I am 
not the only one who suffers from this defect in memory), 
I am totally unable to learn anything verhatini, so that, 
when an hour later, the Sergeant called upon me to recite 
what I had learnt, instead of reciting the following : " At 
the command of * Cavalerie en Avant — Marche,' the 
trooper places the whole weight of his body on his right 
foot, after zvhich he. . . ." &c. &c. I recited, '' At the 
command of ' Cavalerie en Avant — Marche,' the trooper 
puts the whole weight of his body on his right foot and 
then. . . ."' &c. &c. The Sergeant stopped me : '' You 
blockhead," he exclaimed, '' what the deuce is that you are 
reciting? " 

" What you gave us to learn. Sergeant." 

*' What I gave you to learn ! Go and look at your regu- 
lations, and you'll see if it's right, and as you can't learn 
the thing in an hour, you will be confined to barracks next 
Sunday, and that will give you plenty of time to ponder 
over it." 

91 



TROOPER 3809 

In everything we were given to learn it was always 
thus. Legros cared little or nothing whether we under- 
stood what we learnt or not, but he attached the greatest 
importance to our repeating it verbatim, notv/ithstanding 
the fact that he was himself unable to do so. Even when 
we had to learn the principles of surveying, he expected us 
to know word for word every explanation given in the 
book. Later on, before we were dismissed, the Sergeant 
called me up once more, and finding that this time I could 
answer his question to his satisfaction, he cancelled my 
punishment, telling me, however, that he would deprive 
me of the right of applying for leave on the following 
Sunday. 

As the routine of our daily work made it impossible for 
us to dine out in future, we made an arrangement with 
the canteen-keeper, who agreed to supply us with board at 
the rate of £5 a month, and henceforth a table was perma- 
nently reserved in the canteen for us. 

We had been more than two hours in the schoolroom, 
and it was with real relief that we heard the trumpeter's 
call of ''Soup" (dinner). Before dismissing us from 
school, however, the Sergeant read us the regimental 
orders for the day, which contained a reference to our- 
selves. " The Volontaires," said the Colonel, " are warned 
that they are, under no circumstances, to ask for another 
trooper's help, either to clean their outfits, or their arms, 
or to get their horses saddled. Any Volontaire receiving 
assistance from another trooper will have eight days' 
' Salle de Police ' and the trooper who has helped him will 
receive a similar punishment." 

" Now you're warned," commented the Sergeant, " and 
although I have no right to interfere with those who don't 
belong to my squadron, I'll see about those among you 

92 



TROOPER 3809 

who are in it, and I'll take jolly good care that the Colonel's 
orders are strictly carried out." 

Here was a nice state of affairs ! We had but two hours 
to ourselves every day, and we were expected, not only to 
take our meals during that time, but also to do work for 
which an ordinary well-trained trooper was supposed to 
require three to four hours of steady application ! That 
we could carry out the Colonel's orders was physically 
impossible, and the only result was that the two men who 
looked after our things insisted upon getting two francs 
more a week, as a compensation for the risk of punishment 
to which they were exposed. 

That evening we had our first mounted drill in the rid- 
ing-school under our new Sergeant, and we were able to 
realise what a bully the man was. He frequently kept us 
trotting without rest for a quarter of an hour at a time, 
though it may be remembered that we had no stirrups, and 
riding as we did on hard saddles with coarse trousers was 
a terrible strain on most fellows who had very little previ- 
ous training on horseback. It was then that I appreciated 
the precaution I had taken of donning doeskin riding 
breeches under my trousers. One of my comrades fainted 
from sheer exhaustion, while three others dropped off their 
horses, but every one of them was immediately ordered to 
remount, and the trotting went on for fully five minutes 
longer. When our Sergeant commanded a halt and let us 
dismount for a few minutes' rest, some of my comrades 
sat on the ground, completely exhausted ; they were 
coarsely rebuked, and ordered to stand up at once, the Ser- 
geant commanding " Attention ! " 

'' There's a fine lot of troopers," he said, " who can't 
even stick on a horse and trot round a riding-school with- 
out coming a cropper ! Now I warn you that, if one of 
you falls off again, I'll keep you on the trot until every 

93 



TROOPER 3800 

blessed one of yoii drops from exhaustion — you blasted 
recruits ! " and forthwith he gave the command to 
" Mount," starting us immediately at a trot. On we went 
round and round the riding-school, and God knows how 
long we should have been kept on the move had not our 
Captain appeared on the scene. The Sergeant's manner 
altered immediately; he made us halt and spoke gently, 
carefully explaining to each one of us the right position on 
horseback, and while the Captain was there, never kept us 
trotting or cantering for more than a couple of minutes at 
a time. During one of the rests the Captain said that he 
could not congratulate us, as a body, on our riding, *' Out 
of fourteen of you," he said, '' there are not five who un- 
derstand a horse, and I see but three who can really ride." 
I am glad to say that I was among the three that he pointed 
out with his whip. How one of the Volontaires could ever 
have been foolish enough to join a cavalry regiment 
passes my comprehension ; the poor fellow was absolutely 
ignorant of the first principles of riding; he was, besides, 
terribly afraid of horses, and never managed to get over 
his dread ; in fact, it was through sheer luck that he stuck 
on his horse for five consecutive minutes. Hardly a day 
passed during the first two months of his service without 
coming a cropper, although he was allotted the quietest 
horse in the regiment. 

I must mention here that our horses were changed every 
day, and that, besides, while we drilled in the riding- 
school, we were told to change horses in the middle of the 
lesson. The first day, I was mounted on a mare, who was 
the worst kicker I ever came across in my life ; she could 
kick so high that at times she almost stood perpendicular 
with her hind legs in the air, but fortunately she had a 
very tender mouth, so that with judgment and good hand- 
ling it was easy to check her antics. When we were told 

94 



TROOPER 3809 

to exchange horses I handed over the mare to my neigh- 
bour, the son of a farmer, who had never ridden anything 
but plough-horses ; the moment he got on the mare's back 
sh.e gave a tremendous kick and he was sent flying in the 
air, and turning a complete somersault he landed on his 
back. He soon got up and was ordered to mount again, 
but he had no sooner done so than the mare, guessing his 
lack of confidence, gave another furious kick, with her 
hind legs so straight in the air that he slipped over her 
head to the ground, where he sat in front of his charger. 
It was fortunate for him that in these two instances the 
animal was immediately caught by a Corporal, as that 
mare was such a vicious brute that she never failed, after 
having thrown her rider, to turn round and try to kick 
him. I was therefore ordered to take her back, and having 
asked leave to remove the rags covering my spur rowels, 
I was allowed to do so. As soon as I got on her back she 
tried her kicks once more, but I gave her such a dressing 
with the sharp points of my spurs, holding her head well 
up at the same time, that she became as quiet as a lamb for 
the remainder of the evening. I often rode this charger 
afterwards, having a particular liking for her, as she 
ambled easily, and one hardly moved on her back while 
trotting, a great boon when one has to ride without stir- 
rups. When we were dismissed that evening several of 
my comrades were almost unable to walk, and one of them 
had his knees so terribly scraped that he was losing a large 
quantity of blood, and was literally leaving a red trail on 
the ground behind him ! Notwithstanding this, he was 
compelled to ride the following day, as he did not wake 
up in time to report himself sick, and was therefore not 
allowed to attend the Surgeon-major's visit. 



95 



CHAPTER V 

So far none of the Volontaires had been punished, and it 
fell to my lot to be the first to become acquainted with the 
Salle de Police. I had been ordered to ride that evening 
the kicking mare I described just now, but the revengeful 
beast, remembering the lesson I had given her on the 
previous day, let out with her hind legs the moment she 
saw me coming near her stall with a saddle. I laid it on 
the ground and tried to get into the stall in order to tie 
her head up before saddling her. Try as I would, I could 
not possibly manage to get alongside of her, the stalls 
being very narrow, and consisting of wooden partitions 
hung up by a chain fixed to the ceiling. These partitions, 
which are two feet broad, stand about four feet from the 
ground, so, getting into the next stall, I climbed over the 
partition and got alongside the charger and caught her by 
the head-stall. A more vicious beast I never came across ; 
not only did she try to bite me, but she also tried to stamp 
on my foot, then sire kicked me with her near hind leg, and 
while I was tying her head up she gave me a forward kick 
with her foreleg ; and when I brought the saddle to put it 
on her back, she lashed out so furiously that she broke the 
rope by which I had tied her head high up and bit me 
viciously. She was Titi's charger, and he alone was able 
to manage her, so I sent a trooper to call him to help me. 
Titi came, and I was holding the mare's head while he was 
putting the saddle on her back when the Sergeant-major 
suddenly appeared. 

96 



TROOPER 3809 

'' What are you doing there ? " he asked Titi. 

'' Sergeant-major," I repHed, " I could not manage to 
saddle the beast, and as I have to ride her to-night, I asked 
Titi to help me." 

*' Very well," answered the Sergeant-major, *' you will 
both have eight days' Salle de Police, and if I catch you 
another time," he went on, addressing Titi, *' it's eight 
days' prison you will get." So saying he walked av/ay 
pompously, evidently well pleased with himself. 

*' Well, old chap," said Titi to me, '' so you've got it at 
last." 

I felt very crestfallen, but I had no time to think much 
about the matter, as I was already late and had to rush to 
riding-school. The drill over, I hastened to de Lanoy's 
room and asked him to intercede for me with the Sergeant- 
major. He promised to do so at once, and I anxiously 
awaited the result of his interview. At the end of a few 
minutes I was called into the Sergeant-major's room. 

'* I am very sorry for you, Decle," said the latter ; " de 
Lanoy has spoken to me on your behalf, and if he had 
done so sooner I might have overlooked the matter this 
time, on account of the special circumstances, but your 
punishment has already been put down on the report, so 
the best thing you can do is to go through it with good 
grace." 

When I returned to my room all the other troopers 
chaffed me unmercifully, but Titi was practical and sym- 
pathetic, " Now look here, old man," said he, " let me give 
you a few tips. First of all, as you've got warm drawers, 
I advise you to put on two or three pairs one on the top 
of the other, and I also advise you to wear two or three 
thick vests, because you know you'll have to be searched 
before you go to the cells, and you are not allowed to wear 
any regimentals under your canvas trousers and blouse. 

97 



TROOPER 3809 

You'll have to put on your clogs, and all the covering you 
are allowed is your bread-bag " (a canvas bag I have al- 
ready described, and called a bread-bag because it is gen- 
erally used for fetching the loaves of bread from the bak- 
ery. It afforded very little covering, being only about four 
feet by two). At a quarter to eight the trumpeters called 
" The men under punishment," and I went down with 
Titi to the guard-room. There were a dozen troopers 
punished with Salle de Police that evening, and we were 
drawn up in front of the guard-room. The Sergeant came 
out with a lantern, and having called out our names he 
began to search us. He felt us all over to see that we had 
neither matches, tobacco, candles, nor spirits concealed 
under our clothes. But he was a good fellow, and did not 
make as thorough a search as I have seen made by some 
others. 

One trooper only, who had his riding trousers under his 
canvas ones, was ordered to pull them off, getting two 
days more for wearing them. We were then marched off 
to the cells. We first reached a huge door which the Ser- 
geant opened with an enormous key. This door led into a 
passage, on the left of which were five heavily-bolted doors 
leading into the cells reserved to the men punished with 
solitary confinement. At the end of the corridor stood a 
solid door reminding one of the traditional prison portal 
of the old melodrama; it was locked with two gigantic 
iron bolts, each one closing with a key; when these had 
been drawn, a key half a foot long and more than an inch 
thick was inserted in the centre lock, in which it turned 
with a grating noise. The door itself was at least six 
inches thick and covered with heavy iron nails. We had to 
stoop to pass through the doorway, and were immediately 
greeted by a dreadful stench. The light of the lantern be- 
ing turned on our faces we could hardly see where we were 

98 

^ I 



TROOPER 3809 

going, but when we had all marched in the Sergeant gave 
a look round with his lantern and thus enabled me to get 
a glance at the place. The room, a kind of cellar, was 
about twenty feet square. On each side of it ran a sloping 
wooden platform about seven feet broad, its base standing 
a couple of feet above the cement floor ; at the top of the 
platform was a raised board about two inches high and one 
foot broad, which was meant as a pillow ; this platform 
was our bed. The room was about ten feet high, and at 
the extremity of it, near the ceiling, was a small window, 
perhaps three square feet in area, strongly and closely 
barred. The only furniture consisted of an earthenware 
jug containing water and an iron cup. In a corner of the 
room, in a small recess, stood a large barrel about four 
feet high, with two steps leading to the top of it, and with 
two iron handles on each side. This, in regimental slang, 
is called " Jules," and is the only sanitary (?) convenience 
at the disposal of the prisoners. The whole place, having 
no means of ventilation, was musty and slimy. We all 
stretched ourselves on the platform, and the Sergeant, 
having seen us thus comfortably settled for the night, 
retired. 

As soon as the key had been removed from the outer 
door I heard the cracking of a match, and a candle was lit 
by my friend Titi. 

Having stuck the candle on the flat edge at the top of 
the bed he at once jumped to the floor and addressed us. 
" Look here, boys," he began, " I am the chairman of this 
'ere meeting, as I hold the record for attendance in this 
hall, where I have already presided over many a merry 
gathering. As chairman, and as your senior, I must warn 
you that my authority has to be recognised by every one of 
you, and in my capacity of commander of the place, I may 
as well remind you of the regulations. Remember that 

99 
t ^ 

ft ire 



TROOPER 3809 

' refusal to obey is a most heinous crime, the offender being 
hable to be tried by court-martial.' As I notice that there 
are a few uninitiated members here to-night, I will let them 
know what are the rules and regulations of the place. I 
will first proceed to the inspection." 

So saying, he ordered us to stand in a single file in the 
middle of the room ; and all the troopers, scenting fun, 
readily obeyed. He then commanded four of us, who were 
making our first appearance in the place, to step forward, 
allowing the others to sit down. '' Troopers," he said, ad- 
dressing us and mimicking the Colonel capitally, " you 
have the honour of being admitted for the first time to 
these ancient precincts, which have sheltered many a great 
man, and it now becomes necessary that you should pay 
due homage to our military patron, the great and noble 
Jules. In order not to interrupt the sanctity of your de- 
votions, we shall leave you in tcte-a-tctc with our noble 
patron, whom you will have at the same time to guard. 
Trooper Decle," he concluded, " right turn by the left, 
quick march ! " Having been warned beforehand of this 
traditional farce, I executed the movement, and when I 
came within a step of '' Jules," was ordered to halt. 
'' Now," said Titi, closing the door upon me, " here are 
your orders : In case any one knocks at the door you are to 
challenge the fellow and inquire what he wants, and you 
must also see that Jules does not run away." The door 
was then closed upon me, and I was nearly stifled. At the 
end of a minute or two came a knock. " Who goes there ? " 
I said. '' Your commander," replied Titi from outside ; 
" have you followed my instructions, and has Jules in- 
spired you? " he went on. " Yes," I replied, " he told me 
that the distinguished company would feel thirsty in the 
morning, and he advised me to allay their thirst." '* That's 
right/' answered Titi, opening the door; I then handed 

lOO 



TROOPER 3809 

over to him a five-franc piece to pay my footing. " Boys," 
he exclaimed, " 'tis a hind wheel " (une roue dc dcrriere — 
the slang word for a silver dollar). ''Three cheers for 
Decle." The cheers were duly given. The three other 
recruits were still standing in the middle of the room. 
" Now what may your name be, you pug-nosed, carroty 
villain?" demanded Titi, addressing one of the fellows 
standing up — a recruit. " Dieudonne, present," shouted 
the boy, adding to his name the answer given at a roll-call. 
Promptly he was marched to Jules as I had been, and 
locked in, but he was left there for ten minutes at least. 
When Titi went to release him the lad only offered one 
franc. " It won't do, my boy," said Titi. The fellow re- 
plied that this was all he possessed ; but on his promising 
to give fifty centimes more in the morning, " to make up 
the price of a quart of brandy," he was released. Then 
came the turn of the third recruit : he was a tall and mag- 
nificently-built fellow, 6 feet i inch high. '' Now, you 
Colonne de la Bastille/^' what name has your father trans- 
mitted to his pillar of a son ? " " Look 'ere you," cried the 
recruit, " don't imagine that I am going to let myself be 
bullied like those two other idiots." *' I say, Tommy," re- 
marked an old trooper of four years' standing, " don't be 
an ass ; we're having a bit of fun, and even the Volontaire 
has played the game like a man : we've all been through 
it ; if you don't go willing, you'll be made to go unwilling. 
Go on, old chap." It was of no use ; the man sulked and 
would not budge. Thereupon Titi began another speech, 
giving this time an imitation of one of our lieutenants. 
" Ahem, I warned you, my friend, of the — as I might say 
— disastrous ; yes, disastrous consequences of disobedi- 
ence ; you, er — understand well — disobedience — well, as I 
said, I shall have you removed wdiere you won't — or, 
* A high monument in Paris, somewhat like the Nelson Column. 

lOI 



TROOPER 3809 

rather, where you decline to — go. Now, boys," he added, 
turning towards the other men. Four of them had ah'eady 
jumped up, and among them a certain Piatte, a kind- 
hearted, clumsy-looking chap, but a most powerful man. 
The first who approached the recruit were knocked down, 
but Piatte, catching him by the legs from behind, brought 
him to the floor. The three others at once seized him by 
the arms and head, while Piatte held his legs, and so car- 
ried he was roughly bundled into Jules' corner, and the 
door locked upon him. 

To make it the more secure the door was then tightly 
held by four men, while the recruit inside kicked and ham- 
mered at it in vain. '' You cowards," he howled, with 
curses ; " you toolv me unawares, four to one, and from be- 
hind too ; wait until I get out ! You don't know who I am. 
I am Jeannot the butcher^ the Terror of Belleville! " 

*' Shut up, Jeannot, and listen one minute," cried Piatte, 
in his deep bass voice. '' If you like I'll stand up to you ; 
fair fight, mind you ; square fall, both shoulders touching. 
Is that a go ? " 

Jeannot ceased hammering upon the door. '* All right," 
he shouted. *' Now, you fellows, open the door ! " 

" Let go, boys," said Piatte. 

Slowly the tall recruit stepped out ; his face was flushed, 
his eyes bloodshot. Folding his arms on his chest he 
looked round. " Where's the idiot who dares challenge 
me ? " he said, surveying us with contempt. 

*' I am that 'ere idiot," said Piatte, good-naturedly. 

Jeannot looked at him and laughed. " So," he said, 
" you want me to crush your bones ? You fancy yourself 
pretty strong, but presently you'll be sorry you spoke, 
putty-face ! " 

'' Very well, my boy, very well," quietly replied Piatte, 
beginning to strip. 

102 



TROOPER 3809 

Jeannot followed his example, and as he had but a shirt 
under his blouse, he was soon naked to the waist. He was 
a magnificent specimen of humanity. His muscles looked 
as if made of cast-iron ; his chest was broad, his body 
supple, and his wrists and hands were not coarse like those 
usually found among the labouring classes. 

Piatte took longer to strip, having a couple of flannel 
shirts and three heavy vests to remove. When he was 
bare to the waist, he appeared immensely powerful indeed, 
but lacking the manly beauty of Jeannot. He was thick 
set, with a short neck, breasts like a woman's, and a ten- 
dency to stoop. His hands were enormous (he could not 
get on No. 9 gloves). He was fully two inches shorter 
than his opponent. Both men were, however, equally 
matched in weight, each being about 14 stone, but at first 
sight I felt sure that Jeannot would easily win the day. 

*' Who is to be umpire ? " said Jeannot. 

" Titi, of course," answered Piatte. 

"Titi? Who is Titi?" 

My chum came forward. '' You don't know me, old 
fellow," he began, '* but you've often heard my name. I 
was one year with old Blanc the wrestler. ' Titi de la Vil- 
lette,' don't you remember now ? " 

*' What," cried Jeannot, '' Titi de la Villette, the cham- 
pion light-weight? Shake hands," and so saying he ex- 
tended his palm, which Titi firmly grasped. 

*' Now, boys," said Titi, addressing the adversaries, 
" here are the conditions of the match : No grasping below 
the waist or by the clothes ; no foul tripping, and both 
shoulders to touch the ground." 

" Right you are — agreed," answered Piatte and Jeannot 
simultaneously. 

The two adversaries shook hands, and immediately 
stood in an attitude of attack, with their knees bent, and 

103 



TROOPER 3809 

both arms half extended forward with open hands. Then 
Titi gave the signal '' Go ! " 

Jeannot thereupon advanced towards Piatte, who did 
not shift his position. The assailant then laid one hand 
on Piatte's shoulder, while he tried to get his left arm 
round his adversary's waist, but every feint was baffled by 
Piatte, who still remained on the defensive. Not a whisper 
could be heard, but only the loud breathing of the two 
wrestlers, and the sound of flesh strikinsr flesh. 

All of a sudden Jeannot sprang back, and immediately 
rushing once more upon his adversary, caught hold of 
him round the waist with his left arm, putting his right 
arm over Piatte's left shoulder. Piatte stood the shock 
without flinching, and with a rapid movement he brought 
Jeannot's right arm down, allowing him to pass it under 
his own arm so that Jeannot was grasping Piatte round 
the body, while Piatte was encircling him over the arms. 

Under ordinary circumstances Piatte would have been 
at a disadvantage, but so powerful was his grasp that 
Jeannot, though the taller man, could not bend to catch 
his opponent round the waist, while Piatte fairly encircled 
his man — over the arms, it is true, but under the elbows. 
For a few seconds the two men held each other in a grip 
of iron, but I noticed that, while Jeannot was panting, 
Piatte did not seem out of breath. Then Piatte, V\^ith a 
tremendous effort, lifted Jeannot slightly from the ground ; 
but, as he did so, Jeannot arched himself to regain his 
footing, and both men crashed heavily to the floor : they 
both fell on the side without loosening their grip, but 
Piatte quickly disengaged his left hand from under his 
adversary's body, with the evident intention of using his 
two hands to force his shoulders down. Taking advantage 
of the movement, Jeannot, arching himself on his head 
and feet, so that his two shoulders should not touch the 

104 



TROOPER 3809 

ground, succeeded in turning Piatte a little round, and 
nearly managed to get on the top of him. Before he could 
do so, however, Piatte had slipped one hand on Jeannot's 
shoulder, and placed his other hand against his waist, thus 
pushing him away. Jeannot was still holding Piatte round 
the body, but the moment Piatte slipped his hand on to his 
shoulder he let go, and, with one hand on the ground, 
pushed himself away from Piatte, and the next instant 
both men were kneeling alongside each other. With a 
hand planted firmly on the ground, each one tried in turn 
to grasp the other by the waist, but in vain. 

It was a fine sight to see these two powerful athletes 
rooted to the ground in grim silence, broken only by the 
impact of hands against muscular backs. At last Jeannot 
managed to encircle Piatte's waist, but, before he had suc- 
ceeded in doing so, Piatte had caught him round the neck ; 
for a second they were entangled, but Jeannot threw his 
legs up, and, turning a back somersault, slipped his hand 
from Piatte's arm and fell on his feet, standing in front 
of his adversary. Piatte had meanwhile remained on his 
knees, and, wnth tremendous efforts, Jeannot tried to move 
him, first by seizing him by the waist, then by the shoul- 
ders. But Piatte remained immovable as a rock. He told 
me afterwards that his chief object was to let Jeannot ex- 
haust himself while he was saving his own wind. 

This struggle lasted for a few minutes more, when Jean- 
not suddenly slipped on the damp cement floor, and, to 
save himself from being seized by Piatte, he flung him- 
self away, and rolled behind his adversary. In an instant 
both men were on their legs once more, Piatte as cool as 
when he had first begun, Jeannot panting heavily. For a 
short time they both stood feinting, when Piatte, changing 
his tactics, made a rush at the Parisian giant, and, before 
the latter knew where he was, he had been lifted in the air 

105 



TROOPER 3809 

and heavily thrown on his back with Piatte on the top of 
him. In order to well assert his victory, Piatte twice lifted 
Jeannot bodily, and made his two shoulders touch the 
ground. Then the victor stood up, greeted by our unani- 
mous applause. Titi handed over to him a flask of brandy 
he had managed to smuggle in, and, after taking a long 
pull, Piatte wiped his mouth and, turning round, said, 
'' Now it's your turn, Jeannot." It was only then that we 
noticed that Jeannot was lying where he had been felled, 
and we all feared that he might be seriously injured. 
Piatte hastened to his side, and was about to lift him when 
Jeannot opened his eyes and jumped up unaided. Turning 
towards Piatte, he extended his hand to him. " Shake 
hands," he said ; " you are the first man who has ever 
felled Jeannot the butcher, but you're a good un ; you 
fight square, and I like that ; but you fairly took the wind 
out of me that last go. Now, boys," he went on, " to show 
you that I don't bear any grudge, I'll pay my footing, and 
I'll be as generous as that blasted millionnaire of a Volon- 
taire. Here goes ' a hind wheel,' and good health to you 
all." So saying, he took a long pull at the flask which Titi 
had handed over to him. The combatants then wiped off 
the blood that ran from a good many scratches on their 
bodies, and donned their garments once more. In the ex- 
citement of the contest the fourth recruit was forgotten, 
and, as he hailed from Normandy (the Scotland of 
France), he kept cannily in the background, and so 
avoided paying his footing. 

Titi then suggested that we should have a song or two, 
and it was fully midnight when, the candle having died 
out, we all tried to go to sleep. The night was bitterly cold, 
and as we had no blankets to cover ourselves with, we all 
slept huddled together like sardines in a tin. 

Having been awake since 5 a.m., I was quite exhausted, 

106 



TROOPER 3809 

and soon dropped off to sleep, but only to wake up almost 
immediately with a horrid sensation that something had 
run over my face. I awoke my faithful Titi, who was 
sleeping beside me. 

" Got any matches ? " I asked hurriedly. 

" Yes, why — want a smoke ? " he replied, handing me 
a match. 

Just as I was going to sit up to strike the match some- 
thing else stirred my hair. When I had obtained a light 
I looked round, and to my disgust I saw half a dozen huge 
rats running about over my companions' bodies. 

'' Ah, it's the rats that worry you," said Titi ; " you'll 
soon get accustomed to them — the place swarms with 
those fellows." 

A nice prospect indeed ! Every time I tried to go to 
sleep I was aroused by a rat cantering over my face, so at 
last I determined to sit up, gladly accepting Titi's offer of 
tobacco and cigarette-papers. 

*' The Sergeant of the Guard to-night is a good sort," 
Titi told me, " and he won't say anything if he smells a 
whiff of smoke." 

At 2.30 A.M. the Sergeant turned up, and when he or- 
dered us to get up and to clear out, I was already rejoicing 
at the idea that I should be able to spend a few hours in 
bed : but I was sorely disappointed when we were taken 
to the pump and ordered to fill the two huge tanks where 
the chargers had to be watered in the morning. The 
night — it was early in December — was a bitterly cold one, 
and the nipping wind pierced us to the bones in the inter- 
vals between our turns at the pump. 

It was nearly five o'clock before we had concluded our 
work : I rushed to my bed, and when, a few minutes later, 
the Corporal called out for the names of the sick men who 
wanted to go to the medical visit, I put mine down, not- 

107 



TROOPER 3809 

withstanding Titi's warning that if the Surgeon-major did 
not consider me ill, I should get an extra four days' Salle 
de Police for malingering. 

At 6 A.M., after reveille, the Sergeant-major came to the 
room and called me. 

'' Look here," he said, *' you are not going to begin 
these tricks with me — to report yourself sick just because 
you have slept in the Salle de Police." 

I assured him that I was really ill. 

'' So much the better for you, if you really are," he re- 
plied, '' but mind you, I shall warn the Surgeon-major, 
and if he finds that you are shamming there'll be another 
eight days for you. And, by-the-by," he added, " I want 
to warn you that troopers who are punished with Salle de 
Police are not allowed to use the canteen, and if I find that 
you've set foot there — God help you ! You will also, dur- 
ing the two hours of rest you get every day, have to do 
corvee s (hard work, such as cleaning the cells, carrying 
Jides about, and doing any unpleasant jobs that have to be 
performed in the barracks)." 

With this intimation he walked away. 

Need I say that now I knew all that " Salle de Police " 
implied, it was not without dread that I looked forward 
to the seven days I had still to undergo. 

Although the description of my adventures has been 
but just begun, enough has, perhaps, already been said to 
indicate that the military training v/hich might be made 
of real educational value to French youngsters is but a 
sordid and degrading experience, to be remembered with 
loathing, or forgotten — if possible. 



io8 



CHAPTER VI 

At 6.45 A.M. all the troopers who had had their names 
put down on the sick hst were taken to the infirmary by 
the Corporal of the Week. We awaited the Surgeon- 
major's arrival in a corridor; that morning there were 
about fifty troopers on the sick list, and, to my great re- 
lief, I learned that the Assistant Surgeon-major was going 
to pay the medical visit. I had been specially recommend- 
ed to this ofiicer, and when I had previously called on him 
with my letter of introduction he had received me most 
kindly, and promised that if I ever wanted his services he 
would be glad to do anything he could for me. As soon 
as he arrived we were called into the consulting-room in 
batches, the troopers of each squadron going in together. 
The consulting-room was small, the only furniture con- 
sisting of a large table, on one side of which sat the doctor, 
with the infirmary Corporal opposite to him. 

When the Corporals of the Week in each squadron 
brought the sick troopers to the infirmary, they handed 
over to the infirmary Corporal a book drawn up as shown 
in table on next page. 

As the troopers came to be examined by the Surgeon- 
major, this book was placed by the infirmary Corporal be- 
fore the doctor, who filled in the figures — these signifying 
the number of days during which each trooper was to 
be exempt from the work stated at the head of each 
column. 

109 



TROOPER 3809 









Exemptions. 


Names. 








C 






Q 


O 
O 


bJ3 


E3 1=1 


Remarks. 


Dupont, Sergeant . . 
Martin, Corporal . 
Duval, Trooper 
Perrin, Trooper . . 
Bouchaud, Trooper . 


I 


2 


2 


4 


Is able to do 
his work. 2 days' 
Sa//e de Police for 
having come to 
the medical visit 
with unwashed 












feet. 



" Duty " means absolute exemption from all work, and 
if the trooper so exempted was under punishment in the 
Salle de Police, he was excused from sleeping in the 
cells. 

*' Boots " means that the trooper is excused from all 
exercises necessitating the use of boots — viz., mounted 
and dismounted drill, gymnastics, and voltige. 

The two other columns need no explanation. 

Whenever a trooper failed to be regarded as sick by the 
Surgeon-major, he was invariably punished with four 
days' Salle de Police by the Captain commanding the 
squadron. The Surgeon-major always refused to pass as 
'' sick " troopers who were dirty, and I have seen poor 
fellows, with awful excoriations, sent back to their work 
because they were dirty. 

A copy of the above-mentioned book was taken by the 
infirmary Corporal, who wrote down the surgeon's dia,^- 
nosis of each case. 



no 



TROOPER 3809 

That day the troopers of our squadron were called in 
first, and, as I was the sixth or seventh on the list, I 
watched the proceedings with keen interest. 

The first trooper called up was suffering from a boil on 
the thigh. " What's the matter with you? " said the doc- 
tor. 

" Well, sir," replied the trooper, a stupid recruit, " I 
have a sort of a red thing — you know, sir — just there," 
pointing to the place, " and it hurts me something awful 
when I ride." 

" Well, show it," said the doctor. 

The fellow tried to pull up his canvas trousers, but 
couldn't manage to get them up high enough. 

*' Why don't you take them off ? " said the doctor im- 
patiently. 

The recruit hesitated, and the doctor, losing patience, 
ordered the Corporal to undress him ; the boy thereupon, 
violently blushing, exposed his trouble. *' Oh, a boil," 
said the doctor, handling him pretty roughly ; and taking 
a lancet from his instrument case, he made a deep incision 
through the swelling. The recruit howled, but the doctor 
told him to shut up, adding that he would be " exempt 
from boots " for the next three days. " You will come 
back in three days' time," he added, and he then ordered 
the Corporal to give him a dose of sulphate of soda. 

On the table stood four very dirty tin mugs ; two of 
them contained a solution of sulphate of soda, and the 
others ipecacuanha and another emetic, mixed with water. 
The Corporal handed one of the tumblers to the trooper, 
and as he was going out with it the doctor cried, " No, no, 
my boy, you must drink it here." With a wry face the 
poor recruit swallowed the ghastly mixture, and the Cor- 
poral having ascertained that he had drained all the con- 
tents, gave the tumbler to a trooper who stood beside a 

III 



TROOPER 3800 

cupboard containing medicines ; Vv^ithoiit rinsing the tum- 
bler, the latter trooper, who was attached to the infirmary, 
filled it up with another dose of sulphate of soda and re- 
placed it on the table. In the meantime the man next on 
the list had been called. He was an ancien trooper {i.e., 
one of more than one year's standing), and when asked 
what was the matter with him, he showed the doctor a 
huge sore on his heel, keeping the remainder of his foot 
inside his clog, which he held with one hand. *' Take off 
that clog," said the Surgeon-major. The man hesitated 
to do so. ''If you don't take it off at once," roared the 
doctor, '' I'll send you back to your duty with four days' 
cells." The man obeyed, and the sight which he then dis- 
played was too disgusting to be dwelt upon. Suffice it to 
say that his toes were encased in a cake of filth. 

" Just what I expected," remarked the surgeon, " and 
still you're not ashamed of yourself," he went on, ad- 
dressing the man ; " go and wash yourself. The next 
time a trooper dares to come to me in such a state of filth 
I'll give him eight days." When my turn came the doctor 
told me to wait until the consultation was over, when he 
would see me privately. After me came a trooper who 
complained of pains in his back. " Oh, rheumatics," said 
the doctor ; " ipecac." The man had to swallow the con- 
tents of one of the tumblers on the table, and rushed out 
very pale, in anticipation of what he knew would soon 
happen. He was exempted from drill on foot. Others 
were suffering from sores of various kinds, chiefly due to 
riding- without being accustomed to it, and they were al- 
ternately ordered a dose of sulphate of soda or of ipecac. ; 
indeed, these two medicines seemed to be considered a 
panacea in the French army. 

One man, none other than Piatte, the hero of the pre- 
vious night's contest, complained that he was not well, but 

112 



TROOPER 3809 

the doctor could not elicit from him any particulars of his 
ailment. 

'' Have you any pain ? " asked the doctor. 

" Yes, sir, plenty of them," blandly replied Piatte. 

" Where? In your stomach? " 

'' Oh, yes, sir, just so, in my stomach." 

" Show me your tongue." 

After examining this the doctor told him that his 
stomach could not be out of order, as his tongue was 
perfectly clean. 

'' Well, sir," said Piatte, " my stomach hurts me in 
just the same way that it does here," pointing to his 
back. 

The doctor felt the place he had pointed out, and Piatte 
winced as though it caused him intense pain. " Have you 
lifted any heavy load lately ? " good-naturedly said the 
doctor. 

" Oh, yes, sir," innocently replied Piatte ; " and you 
don't know, sir, what Pve been sufifering for these last 
four days. I didn't like to come to the medical visit, be- 
cause I thought it would pass off, but really to-day, sir, 
it's more than I can bear." The doctor fully believed him, 
and exempted him from all duty for two days. 

When Piatte walked out he winked at me. " Well, old 
chap," he whispered, "ain't that grand? We'll have a 
jolly good drunk to-day and to-morrow with yesterday's 
oof." If only the doctor had seen him wrestling the pre- 
vious night, Piatte would not have fared so well. 

The medical visit over, the Surgeon-major called me 
into his private office. '' So," he said, '' you've fallen out 
with your Sergeant-major. He sent me a note to warn 
me that you have been punished with eight days' Salle de 
Police, and he says that you are only shamming." 

I told the doctor what had happened, and explained that 

113 



TROOPER 3800 

I was really feeling ill after the terrible night I had gone 
through. 

'' I can quite believe you," replied the doctor, '' but I 
don't like to exempt you altogether from duty, as I do not 
want to show too openly the interest I take in you. I 
shall exempt you from * boots ' for a couple of days, how- 
ever, so that you will be excused from mounted and dis- 
mounted drill, gymnastics, and voltige; in two days' time 
return here, and I will then exempt you from duty for two 
days, so that you will be able to have a good long rest in 
bed. If I don't come to pass a medical visit on that day 
I shall mention your case to my colleague. Surgeon-major 
Lesage, and he will do what I ask him." 

I returned to the room, and as I was free until ii 
o'clock, when I should have to go to the schoolroom, I hur- 
ried to my bed in order to get a refreshing sleep. De La- 
noy soon turned up and asked me how I was. I told him 
I was dead beat, but he remarked that I had made a blun- 
der in going to the medical visit. '' It has," he said, '* ab- 
solutely put the Sergeant-major's back up against you ; he 
said to me just now that you are nothing but a lazy brute 
without two pennyworth of pluck." Although this rather 
upset me, I felt so exhausted that I dropped asleep before 
I could think the matter over. At 1 1 o'clock I turned up 
in the schoolroom, and Sergeant Legros ordered me to 
come and speak to him. '' So, Monsieur Decle," he sar- 
castically remarked, " you've made the acquaintance of 
the Boite."^ How do you like it? " 

" Not at all, Sergeant," I answered. 

" And therefore," he went on, " you thought that you 
would like a little rest to-day, didn't you ? " 

" No, Sergeant," I said, '' I assure you I'm really ill." 

* Boite (box) : slang word for Salle de Police. 
114 



TROOPER 3809 

'' Just so, just so," he went on. " But you'll soon get 
used to it, as I am afraid that I shall have to send you 
there more often than your turn." (Another regimental 
expression in constant use in the French army.) 

I returned to my table, and as the lesson we were told 
to learn that day dealt with hippology (the care and man- 
agement of horses), a subject with which I was already 
conversant, I had soon learnt the page we had been given 
to study, and then joined my comrades in a game of bac- 
carat, which a sporting member of our set had suggested. 
At first, as usual, we played for small stakes, but these 
were soon increased, banks being sold by auction and 
fetching as much as £io. In less than half an hour's 
time one of my comrades had won over £30, while I was 
a loser by nearly £12. These games of baccarat soon be- 
came an institution, but I am glad to say that I never 
" plunged," and never played beyond my means. One of 
the Volontaires, who did not belong to our set, asked as a 
favour to be permitted to join in our gambling, and having 
been allowed to do so plunged recklessly. Payments were 
made in I.O.U.'s, redeemable at the end of each month, 
but when the time came our plunger (whose losses were 
a good deal over £100) explained that he could not pay 
up just then as his allowance '* hadn't yet arrived." Ap- 
parently that allowance never arrived ; at all events, we 
never saw a penny of the money he owed us. As a mat- 
ter of fact, we soon found out that his parents only al- 
lowed him £12 a month, a sum barely sufficient to cover 
the cost of his board at the canteen and the pay of the two 
troopers who fagged for him ; so after paying certain 
necessary tips, he was, of course, left with hardly any 
pocket-money. While I am dealing with the money ques- 
tion, I may say that £300 was the minimum required to 
cover our necessary expenditure during our year's service 

115 



TROOPER 3809 

in the cavalry, and a good many of us spent much more 
than that amount. 

Being exempt from " boots," I was excused from at- 
tending gymnastics and voltige, and was therefore free 
from 12 till half-past 2, but of course, being under punish- 
ment, I could not go out of barracks. I proceeded there- 
fore to hunt up the orderly of the Capitaine d'hahillenienf, 
as I had heard from de Lanoy that his orderly had a room 
to himself, above the stores, and that, until de Lanoy was 
promoted to the rank of Sergeant, he used to arrange to 
keep a tub and all his washing things in that room, pay- 
ing the man for the privilege I2s. a month. I found the 
fellow, but to my utter disgust he informed me that he 
had already arranged with three other Volonfaires for the 
loan of his room (Walter being one of the lucky ones), 
and he absolutely declined to have another Volontaire 
using his apartment. " You see, old chap," he said to 
me, '' if a lot of you fellows come to my room, I shall soon 
be found out, and not only shall I lose my billet as orderly 
to the Captain, but I shall be sent back to ordinary duty 
in the squadron, losing the comfortable little income I am 
now making, and I am not going to run the risk." I in- 
sisted earnestly, but without avail. I then inquired 
whether any other orderly had a room to himself, but 
found that he was the only one, and I was therefore re- 
duced to the pump for my ablutions. 

I explained just now that troopers who were punished 
with Salic de Police were prohibited from using the can- 
teen, but I discovered that there existed, besides the two 
cavalry canteens, an infantry canteen where Dragoons 
could go ; I therefore repaired there to have a meal, as I 
had been quite unable to swallow for dejeuner the re- 
pulsive mixture of bread and red beans cooked in stale 
fat, with a few pieces of bone and sundry bits of tendons 

ii6 



TROOPER 3809 

served in a greasy tin pot, which formed the fare of the 
day. I found the canteen quite empty at this time of the 
day, and the cooking was decent ; there was, besides, no 
chance of being discovered by any of the cavalry non- 
commissioned officers, for they all messed in a room set 
apart for them in each of the two cavalry canteens, while 
this one stood at the top of a portion of the building re- 
served for the line regiment. During the remainder of 
the time I served I never failed to use this canteen when- 
ever I was punished, and the fact was never found 
out. 

When I returned to my room, towards one o'clock, in- 
tending to lie down, a Corporal came to me and ordered 
me out for fatigue duty : I was to go and sweep the cells 
with the other troopers. I pointed out to the Corporal 
that I was sick and that I was exempt from " boots," so 
that I meant to have a rest while the other Volontaires 
were at voltige. " Yes, my boy," replied the Corporal, 
" I'm quite aware of that. But you're not exempt from 
clogs, and troopers exempt from ' boots ' are not excused 
from fatigue duty. So, up you get, and come along." 
Reluctantly I followed. The Corporal presented me with 
a very dirty broom and accompanied by three other troop-' 
ers I marched wearily towards the cells. First of all, I 
was told off to sweep the corridor, then the Sergeant of 
the Guard opened the doors of three of the cells used for 
solitary confinement. It was the first sight I had had of 
these cells, and I hoped that it would never fall to my lot 
to be incarcerated in one of them. Each was about twelve 
feet by six. On one side stood a wooden bed raised a 
couple of feet from the ground ; and about seven feet long 
and two-and-a-half broad. A small shelf, a foot square, 
suspended against the wall by two strings, was meant for 
the prisoner's bread, so that the rats should not get at it. 

117 



TROOPER 3809 

In a corner was a small " Jules," and alongside of it an 
earthenware water-jug with an iron beaker on the top of 
it; the only ventilation consisted in a small hole a foot 
square and strongly barred, opening above the door, so 
that when the latter was closed the prisoner found himself 
in almost complete darkness. While we were cleaning 
the cells the Sergeant of the Guard remained marching 
up and down the corridor, as there was a prisoner in one 
of them. His door was the last to be opened, and the 
Sergeant of the Guard ordered him to step out in the 
passage, while we were told off to clean his cell. The 
man looked the picture of misery. He had already been 
confined for five days, and during that time he had been 
able neither to wash nor to shave, and the short allov/ance 
of food had told heavily on him. Prisoners in cells are 
only allowed the ordinary trooper's ration every other 
day; during the intervening days they get one ration of 
soup without meat, their other meal consisting of dry 
bread and water. The prisoner asked the non-commis- 
sioned officer to have his water- jug emptied and refilled, 
as there was a drowned rat in it. I was told to hand over 
my broom to another trooper, and ordered with another 
man to catch hold of " Jules " and to go and empty it — a 
task, as you may imagine, I hardly relished. Fortunately 
for me, as I was crossing the yard I met my friend de 
Lanoy, who told me to put my odoriferous burden on the 
ground and to follow him. He then went to the cells and 
ordered the Corporal to send another man to relieve me, 
as he wanted me for special work. He then ordered me to 
go and wait for him outside his room while he remained 
behind. He soon joined me and told me to go and have 
a good wash and to return to his room. I went to the 
pump, and after indulging in a good scrubbing returned 
to de Lanoy 's. 

u8 



TROOPER 3809 

" What a filthy Hie this is ! " I exclaimed, when I en- 
tered his quarters. 

''Have you only just found that out?" he answered. 
" I have been serving two years and a half, and although 
I have been two years a non-commissioned officer, I am 
thoroughly disgusted with it. I heard the Corporal or- 
dering you to follow him, and I might have told him to 
select another trooper for fatigue duty, but, you see, I 
have to be careful ; if I showed you too much favour T 
couldn't help you as I may be able to under more serious 
circumstances. Now," he went on, '' listen to my advice. 
Whenever a Corporal orders you for fatigue duty just 
call him aside and quietly tip him a couple of francs to 
drink your health with, asking him at the same time to 
allow you to find another man to do the work in your 
stead. You will never fail to find a trooper glad to take 
the job for a franc." 

I followed his advice in the future, and it was only when 
no other trooper was handy that I ever did fatigue duty 
again. 

That evening, at 7.45, I stood before the guard-room 
among the troopers punished with Salle de Police. The 
Sergeant of the Guard did not trouble to search us, but 
immediately marched us off to the lock-up. We were but 
six that evening; as usual, when the Sergeant had retired 
Titi lit his candle. After singing a few songs all the 
fellows dropped to sleep with the exception of Titi and 
myself. 

'' What a life ! " said Titi to me. " I much prefer to be 
in quod — some of them ain't bad at all." 

" What ! Have you been in gaol ? " I asked in astonish- 
ment. 

" Have I been to goal ! Heaps of times, old chappy ! " 

119 



TROOPER 3809 

He was clearly not in the least ashamed to own it, but felt 
quite proud, and enjoyed my astonishment. 

" What did you do before you joined the regiment? " I 
queried, in order to change the subject. 

" /' faisais la muche," he replied. 

I did not understand what this meant, not being yet 
versed in low slang; and I imagined that it meant that — 
like many of the Parisians in our regiment — he had been 
a vidangeur (scavenger). I inquired what pay he used 
to draw. 

" Oh," he said, " it depended ; my last marmite die etaif 
rien epatante, moji vicux, elle faisait ses cinq roues de der- 
riere tous les soirs! '' 

He went on telling me a lot of stories on the subject, 
which cannot, unfortunately, be reproduced here, but 
which gave me a striking insight into the life of a French 
maqiiereau (a man who lives on unfortunates). 

Seeing that he had absolutely no sense of shame, I 
ventured to ask him about his convictions. He became 
quite keen on the subject. 

" Ah, my boy," he said, " don't think that it's only poor 
beggars like me who're sent to quod : I have seen there 
many a gentleman — yes, gentleman," he repeated, as I 
was smiling — '^ gentlemen, like you, who drove in their 
own cart ; but that's neither here nor there. There's one 
thing certain: Y a pas d' justice en France, ma vieille!" 
(There is no justice in France, old chap.) "One day, 
for instance," he went on, " I had been with some friends 
to the Theatre de la Vilette (a small suburban theatre), 
and being a bit of an artist myself — I have been a super 
at the Porte St. Martin* — I became disgusted at the way 

* The theatre of the Porte St. Martin Avas then the stage where his- 
torical melodrama was represented ; it was associated with Frederick 
Lemaitre and Melinge Taillhade. 

1 20 



TROOPER 3809 

one of the fellows played Taillhade's part. Instead of 
walking like a nobleman of the old times, and taking off 
his hat with a great sweep of the arm and bowing like a 
prince, that actor chap just walks in like if he had stepped 
into the cafe at the corner, and he takes his hat off like if 
it had been a billycock ; I got that disgusted that I couldn't 
help shouting: ' Ah! malhcur d'ons que tii sorsf ' (Good 
gracious, where do you hail from?) Chambardeau, the 
grocer's assistant, then says to me: ' Tais done ta sale 
gneiile, Titi! ' (Shut up your ugly mug, Titi !) * Ugly 
mug,' I says ; ' what d'ye call that filthy beak of yours ? ' 
{Ton sal niiiseau.) 'All right,' howls Chambardeau, 
' ril smash that phiz of yours * when we get out.' That 
was too much for me, so I jumps at him ; all the people 
shout, ' Turn them out.' The police comes and chucks 
us out, and the other boys, guessing there'll be a row out- 
side, follers us. Well, we first kick up a row to get our 
money returned ; but it was no good, and the s ergots \ 
chucks us to the street: Chambardeau and me we goes 
into a side street to have it out. On the way Chambar- 
deau pulls his knife out of his pocket. ' Knives? ' I ask. 
' Yes, knives,' he says. ' All right, mon salop/ 1 I ^^P^Yf 
' I'll soon rip open your tripe-bag.' Some of the boys had 
joined us, and told us that the police were not likely to 
come, so Chambardeau he says : * Are you ready ? ' 
* Yes,' I says, and we close. Just then Mimi — she was 
the grocer's daughter, and she was sweet on me, you 
know — 'twas that which made Chambardeau mad with 
me. Well, Mimi turns up. They'd gone and told her, 
some of the other chaps, and when she sees us going at it 
with knives she hollers, ' Murder ! Murder ! Police ! ' 

* La ficJni tete a claques. 

\ Sergots : slang for sergeants de ville (policemen). 
\ Mon Salop— yo\x piece of dirt ; used as a term of comradeship. 

121 



TROOPER 3809 

The sergofs come at a run, and just then Chambardeau 
he drops down. The scrgots arrest me — the cowards ! 
There was four of them. They knock me down and kick 
me all over, then they clasp the bracelets (handcuffs) on 
my wrists, while the others pick up Chambardeau. 
' What's the row ? ' one of the sergots asks of him. 

* Row ? ' he says ; ' there's no row.' ' But,' says a sergot, 
' you are wounded.' ' Am I ? ' says Chambardeau. ' I 
suppose that I fell on my open knife while I was playing 

with Titi.' He was a d sneak, Chambardeau was, 

but he never split on a pal. Well, they took us both to 
the police station and locked us up — me, Chambardeau, 
and Mimi. We had chucked our knives away, or else we 
should have had another round. ' It's a pity,' says Cham- 
bardeau, ' that the police came and spoiled the fun ! ' 

* You bet, old chap,' I says. But then Mimi — she ought 
not to have been with us, but the cells for the women was 
full — she had been crying, and, as I was saying, she takes 
Chambardeau's hand. ' It was real good of you,' she 
says to him, ' not to have split on Titi.' ' I split on a 
pal ! ' he exclaims. ' Mimi, fen ai soupe d'toi.^ Ah,' 
he goes on, excited, ' I thought I'd make you love me ; but 

it's no use, you must think me d low to imagine that 

I could split on a pal ! Shake hands, Titi,' he then says, 
' and keep her.' Just then his wound begins to hurt him. 
It was nothing — I'd only stuck him through the arm — 
but he was bleeding a lot, only he would not call out for 
a doctor for fear it might tell against me. So Mimi tears 
her apron and makes a bandage of it. The next morn- 
ing we were all brought before the Commissary of Police ; 
and although Chambardeau swore that it was all lies about 
our having been fighting, and my having stabbed him, 

* I have done with you. 
122 



TROOPER 3809 

they sent its both to the Depot * in the Panier a salad c f 
(Black Maria). Two days later the Jiige d'instructionX 
examined me. He knew me, that man ; I had been twice 
before him already. 

" ' So here you are again, Martin ! ' he says. 

" * Yes, sir,' I answers. 

'' ' Attempted murder this time/ he goes on, reading a 
long report. 

'''Ah la bonne blague! Cest tout des menteries d'la 
police.' (Well, that's a good one! All lies from the 
police.) 

'' * But,' he answers, ' you were caught in the act of 
stabbing the man Chambardeau.' 

'' * Now, Monsieur le Juge/ I said, ' ask Chambardeau 
himself, ask Mimi Robinson, the grocer's daughter: 
they'll both tell you if I am not speaking God's own 
truth.' 

*' ' I have seen them both,' said the judge, ' and they 
both accuse you.' 

" Now you see, inon viettx," went on Titi, waxing ex- 
cited, and shaking me by the blouse, " you see I'd been 
there before, and I knew that the judge was telling a lie 
as big as himself. I had seen Chambardeau in the passage 
at the Depot, and he had winked at me and telegraphed — 
you know we had both been in quod before and had learned 

* Central lock-up, where all persons who have been arrested the pre- 
vious evening are sent in the morning. (Bailing out does not exist in 
France ; but in case of arrest for slight reasons, such as making a dis- 
turbance, the Commissary of Police can release a prisoner after taking 
down his name and address. This is only done when the prisoner 
appears to be a gentleman.) 

t " Salad basket " : so called because prisoners are locked up in tight 
compartments, and are rudely shaken like salad in the baskets used by 
French cooks to shake the water off after washing it. 

X Jiige dHrtstrnction : see Appendix B. 

123 



TROOPER 3809 

there how to telegraph with our hands — so he telegraphed : 
* I have not been examined yet, and I'll swear we were 
playing, and I hurt myself ; I won't split.' What's more, 
I had caught sight of Mimi in the witness room, and she 
would not have been left there if she had already been ex- 
amined, so I knew it was all lies that the judge was telling 
just to make me confess. I didn't lose my head, but quite 
polite I replied: 

" ' I'm as innocent as an unborn baby, sir, and I only 
ask you to confront * me with Chambardeau and Mimi.' 

That will come in due time,' said the judge ; ' you are 
not going to teach me how to conduct my examination, are 
you? ' 

May the Lord Almighty preserve me from such a 
thought,' I replied, quite lamb-like, and to please him I 
added, ' — a kind, considerate, and just magistrate like you, 
sir.' 

" ' That^s enough, that's enough,' he says, but I could 
see that he was pleased. 

" He then sent me back to gaol, and said he'd send for 
me next day. I heard afterwards that Chambardeau was 
examined after me : he swore on the head of his mother 
that he had hurt himself by falling with the knife, which 
he held open in his hand to peel an orange, and that while 
we were skylarking he slipped on a bit of orange-peel. But 
although the judge told him that he could not possibly 
have inflicted that wound of his on himself — and to prove 
it he read the doctor's report. Chambardeau replied that 
he had always been clumsy with knives, ever since he was 
two months old ; but he overdid it, you know. I've al- 
ways told him so — he overdid it when he showed the judge 
a scar on his right arm, and said he had cut himself there 
* It is usual for accused and witnesses to be confronted before the 
Jtige a^mstruction. 

124 



TROOPER 3809 

while slicing bread when he was two years of age. The 
judge, of course, tried to make him believe that I had con- 
fessed, but Chambardeau, whose temper was rather quick, 

replied that he knew that was a d d lie, and so the 

judge sent him back to gaol. Mimi was fine ; she said she 
had seen nothing of a fight, but that we were skylarking, 
and that Chambardeau had slipped on some orange-peel 
and fell on his knife. 

" I was examined three times that week, and once the 
next, and on the third week was ' confronted ' with Cham- 
bardeau and Mimi. We all stuck to our story, swore that 
the sergots had told nothing but lies, and everything was 
going on beautifully until the judge picks up our knives 
that were lying on his table. One of them was still covered 
w4th dried-up blood: it was mine; so the judge says, 
* Whose knife is that ? ' ' Hullo, they've found my knife,' 
Chambardeau says natural like. * You are quite sure it 
belongs to you? ' says the judge. 

" ' Sure ! ' answers Chambardeau ; ' sure ! a knife Tve 
had for more than a year : I remember the day I bought it 
like if it was yesterday. It was a Monday, and it was 
raining hard, and it was just to get out of the rain that I 
went into the shop and bought it.' 

" ' GrefHer,' ^ says the judge to his clerk, ' you have 
carefully taken down this deposition? ' 

*' * Yes, sir,' answers the grefHer. 

" ' And this knife? ' asks the judge, taking another one 
from the table, ' is that yours ? ' I saw Chambardeau wink 
at me, but did not understand, so thinking it was Cham- 
bardeau's knife I said boldly, ' For sure it's my knife, 
sir.' 

" ' Look at it carefully,' the judge says, handing it over 
to me. I looked at it, and, without pretending to do so, 

* Clerko 
125 



TROOPER 3809 

looked at the maker's name. ' Of course it is my knife,' 
I again said, handing it back to the judge. 

" ' And where did you buy it? ' he then asked. 

" I thought that I had been jolly clever to look at the 
maker's name and address, but I thought I'd keep that for 
the last, so I said that I had bought it from a chap who 
had bought it from another chap. ' But,' I added, ' to 
show you that it's my knife and no mistake, I can tell you, 
sir, that it comes from Lebrun, rue de I'Arbre Sec' 

" The judge smiled in a way I didn't like, and, calling 
his clerk, he showed him the knife. ' Do you know that 
knife? ' he said. ' Of course, sir,' replied the clerk; ' it 
is the knife you always keep on your desk ! ' 

" The judge looked at me smiling, and did not say a 
word, but his silence went bang through me. 

" I had put my foot in it, right up to the knee, so I pre- 
tended to gaze out of the window. 

'' ' Chambardeau,' then said the judge, after a few 
minutes of uncomfortable silence, ' and you, HUe * Robin- 
son, you have both tried to obstruct the course of justice 
and to defeat its aim, but truth cannot be hidden from it.' 
He went on like that for ten minutes, old chap, and then 
he said to Chambardeau that, as there was nothing against 
him, he would be released, and then he went for me, call- 
ing me a sanguinary ruffian, one of those men who are a 
disgrace to society, and all sorts of tommy rot of the same 
kind. He concluded his little speech by saying that I 
would be sent for trial before the Tribunal Correctionnel,] 
where he hoped I would be made an example of, and then 
he dismissed us. 

" Chambardeau and myself were taken back to gaol with 

* Fille : woman, term applied to all persons of the gentler sex in all 
criminal proceedings. 

t A kind of police-court. Only felonies are tried by jury in France. 

126 



TROOPER 3809 

the tourniquet * on, held by a Garde municipal, and Mimi 
had just time to tell me that she would see about getting 
a good barrister to defend me. I told her to try and get 
a fellow called Lehautier, who had already got me off once : 
he could speak, that man, something grand. The last time 
he defended me, he told the judges that if I was before 
them it was because I was an orphan who had had no 
mother to look after my youth — the old lady was at the 
time doing five years under an alias! — and he talked them 
round so well that he actually drew tears from them, and 
I was acquitted. 

" Chambardeau was released the following day, but it 
was not till a month later that I was tried. My counsel 
came to see me twice before the trial, and I did not like 
his ways. Mimi could not manage to secure Lehautier, 
who had become a great man, and wanted 300 francs 
(£12) to take my case up, so she got that little chap for 
50 francs (£2). If you had seen the side he put on! 
* Don't tell me that you are guilty,' he began, ' because, if 
you tell me so, my conscience ' — en va done! (get along) 
his conscience ! — well, his conscience would not allow him 
to defend me. I told him, therefore, the story we had 
concocted, but he said that would never do, and advised me 
to say that it was true that I had stabbed Chambardeau, 
but that he had begun the row, and that I only acted in 
self-defence. And a jolly mess he made of it : he never 
told Chambardeau nor Mimi anything about what they 
had to swear ; so they swore all wrong, and then the judge 
presiding over the court put me all sorts of questions about 
my previous convictions ; and he then called me a de- 

* Tourniquet : a piece of very flexible steel cord which is passed round 
the prisoner's wrist, or wrists, the two ends being held by the guard. 
The slightest twist causes such excruciating agony that no prisoner can 
escape. 

127 



TROOPER 3809 

moralised scoundrel and what not, and in the end I got 
two months ! And," added Titi, violently shaking me by 
the blouse, " you call that justice ! It was a fair fight, all 
fair and square, and I got two months for it. Ah malheur! 
That's what they call a Republic. If we had both been 
fine gentlemen, and fought a duel with swords, and, in- 
stead of bleeding Chambardeau a bit, I had stuck my 
sword right through his guts, every one would have said 
what a fine fellow I was. Instead of that, because I am 
only Martin, alias Titi de la Villette, I get two months, and 
they call me a scoundrel. Ah malheur! malheur! mal- 
heur! Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite.* That's all right for 
those who've got money, but the poor people, on s'en iiche! 
(Who cares about them ?)" 

I am bound to admit that Titi was right on some points ; 
but, unfortunately, he did not realise to what depths of 
degradation he had fallen. 

There is not the slightest doubt that, taken as a whole, 
the lowest classes in large towns, like Paris, Marseilles, 
Lyons, and others, are far more degraded than the people 
belonging to the same class of society in England, and 
the French military service, instead of raising these men 
to a higher plane, only brings down to their level those 
who belong to the better classes, such as peasants, small 
clerks, and so on. It is true that now men who have 
been convicted before serving their time are, as I have 
explained, sent to special battalions in Algeria ; but still, 
even to this day, the three years every able-bodied French- 
man has to serve in the army are nothing but a period of 
ceaseless degradation for men possessing any self-respect. 
The system, one must acknowledge it, works better in Ger- 
many; and the British army cannot, of course, be com- 

* The motto of the French Republic, which is painted on all French 
monuments. 

128 



TROOPER 3809 

pared to either of these armies in which every citizen has to 
serve ; but I feel certain that had the troopers of my regi- 
ment been placed under the command o.f British officers, 
things would have been very different from what they 
were. Most of the troopers who were constantly punished 
would, with gentler treatment — and if the Sergeants and 
officers, instead of bullying them, had appealed to their 
sense of honour, and to their better feelings — have proved 
some of the smartest and most reliable troopers in the 
whole regiment. Instead of that they soon became dis- 
couraged, and ceased to care whether they were punished 
or not. When my Sergeant, after asking me how I liked 
the Salle de Police, added : " You will soon get accus- 
tomed to it," he condensed in those words all the reasons 
which make a blindly rigid system of discipline a com- 
plete failure. 



129 



CHAPTER VII 

The day following my second night in the Salle de Police 
was a Saturday, and inspection day. Our clothing was 
to be inspected on this occasion. Each trooper had to lay 
on his bed his various garments in such a way that the 
regimental numbers should be clearly displayed. The in- 
spection took place at 2 p.m., but as early as 12.30 our 
respective Corporals compared the list in our Uvret with 
the clothes on our beds, counting our tunics, trousers, 
boots, underlinen, towels, and stable costume (canvas 
trousers and blouse), in order to ascertain v/hether any 
of our outfit was missing. All our underclothing had to 
be previously washed, as well as our stable uniform, so 
that troopers had to purchase secondhand canvas trousers 
and blouses to wear while the others were drying. 

In order to avoid punishment in case any of my kit 
should be missing, I had, shortly after my arrival in the 
regiment, a complete duplicate set of outfit made to order 
by the regimental tailor, bootmaker, and armourer. The 
clothes were made of exactly the same pattern and cloth 
as those issued to us, but they were cut so that I could wear 
them without discomfort. I had regulation boots made in 
which I could walk with ease, and besides these I had sev- 
eral pairs made in Paris by my own bootmaker ; in appear- 
ance these looked like regulation boots, but the toes were 
narrower and the heels lower, with box spurs, imitating 
the regulation spurs, screwed into the heels. These I used 
for drill on foot and on horseback. I had arranged to 

130 



TROOPER 3809 

keep all my regulation outfit in a box which I left in the 
orderly's room which I have already mentioned. In this 
way I was always able to produce my regulation outfit in 
perfect order whenever a clothing inspection was held. 
That morning I sent Titi to fetch my clothes and regi- 
mental underlinen from their box, in which was also stored 
all my duplicate kit, as we were forbidden to keep on our 
shelves anything besides our regulation outfit, or to have 
even a locker under our beds. Under the previous Colonel 
troopers had been allowed to have a box in which they 
could lock up their private belongings, such as spare un- 
derclothing and letters, as well as any money they might 
possess. To be deprived of this convenience was hard on 
most of the troopers, as they had to carry their money 
day and night on their persons. It was even impossible to 
keep a book, as this was invariably " bagged " while its 
owner was at drill or stables. Petty thefts were of com- 
mon occurrence, and it even happened several times to me 
to have loose cash stolen from under my bolster when I was 
asleep. To complain of a theft would only have made the 
complainant pass as a dirty sneak among his comrades, and 
would have exposed every man of his squadron to sus- 
picion. 

To return to the inspection : The Corporal having seen 
that each man's outfit was complete, the Sergeant came to 
inspect the troopers' clothes to make sure that they were 
in proper order, that no button was missing, and that all 
spots of grease or dirt had been properly removed. In 
case a trooper was short of some article of clothing, this 
was duly reported by the Corporal, the Sergeant making a 
note of it and reporting it in his turn to the Lieutenant. If 
there was time enough before the arrival of the officer, 
troopers who had sufficient money could go and purchase 
at the canteen any small articles which were needed to 

131 



TROOPER 3809 

complete their kit (sponges and chamois leatliers were 
especially apt to be stolen from Volontaires, as it was im- 
possible to identify such articles). At five minutes to 
two we all had to be ready at the foot of our beds ; and 
the Sergeant-major passed through the room to make sure 
that everything was in order, and every trooper properly 
attired. A quarter of an hour later the cry of '' Fixe! " 
(attention) was uttered by the trooper standing nearest 
to the door. This announced the arrival of an officer. The 
first to come was the Lieutenant of our peloton, a stout, 
middle-aged man, who spoke through his nose. He care- 
fully turned over the clothes on each man's bed, distribut- 
ing here and there a few days of Salle de Police. When 
my turn came he looked at me. 

" So that's you ? " he remarked. 

" Yes, sir," I replied. 

" Impertinent as usual," he went on. " How dare you 
answer me ? " 

" I beg your pardon, sir," I replied. " I thought you 
had questioned me." 

"Oh, you did, did you?" 

" Yes, sir." 

*' Well, don't think another time. I don't like troopers 
who think. You've got no business to think. D'ye hear ? " 

" Yes, sir." 

" What? Don't you understand me? I tell you not to 
answer. Do you understand?" 

Warned by what he had just told me, I shut up. Where- 
upon the Lieutenant, turning towards the Sergeant, re- 
marked, " Sulky brute, that fellow." 

" Are all your things there ? " he then asked me. 

" Yes, sir, I think so." 

" You think ! You always think. I told you not to 
think. You have no business to think. That's always 

132 



TROOPER 3809 

the result of too much education. These lazy dogs of 
Volontaires, they are always thinking. Troopers have no 
business to think." 

Continuing to mutter peevishly, the Lieutenant pro- 
ceeded to overhaul my things while I stolidly stood at 
attention, at the foot of my bed. 

" Look here, you — what's-your-name, what's the fel- 
low's name?" he grumbled to himself, looking at the 
placard hanging at the head of my bed, on which my name 
and regimental number was written. 

'' Oh — Decle," he read aloud, holding a pair of eye- 
glasses in his hand — he seldom wore them on his nose. 

" Lionel," he went on, reading to himself, '' too d d 

aristocratic to have a Christian name like anybody else. 
Why is Lionel your Christian name ? " he asked me ; '' will 
you tell me why you call yourself Lionel ? " * 

" Because my parents christened me so, sir," I replied. 

** A fine reason ! " he said. " But it doesn't matter. 
Don't you ever wear your clothes ? " he added. *' They 
are all new ; they've never been worn ! " 

" No, sir," I said. '' I bought duplicates so as to save 
those that were served out to me." 

'' Plenty of money to waste, eh ? Regimentals not good 
enough for you? I suppose you would consider yourself 
degraded if you had to wear a regimental shirt ? Linen's 
too coarse for a tender skin like yours, eh ? " 

I thought it as well to make no reply. Lifting up my 
blouse, the Lieutenant then looked at my shirt, and told me 
to unbutton it. I was wearing under my flannel shirt an 
undervest made of wool and spun silk. 

*' Ah! just what I thought," again remarked the Lieu- 
tenant. " The thing must wear flannel and silk like a 

* As may have been noticed, my Christian name was a puzzle to every 
one. 



TROOPER 3809 

Cocottc ( a fast woman), and then calls itself a trooper. / 
don't wear any undervests, and yet I'm an officer ! Well," 
he added, as he passed on to the next bed, " you've already 
found out that silk vests won't prevent you from going to 
the Salle de Police. You've got nothing missing to-day, 
but I'll soon catch you napping. You won't pass many 
inspections without having to send you to the Boite. Silk 
vests indeed ! " he kept on muttering. 

He then began to examine Titi's bed. After looking 
through his outfit he lifted up the mattress, and found 
underneath it a dirty pair of drawers and a newspaper. 
" Just as I expected," he remarked. '' What's that? " he 
asked, showing the newspaper to Titi. 

*' Oh, it's an old newspaper, sir," blandly replied Titi, 
" that I put aside. I bought some things in the town and 
they were wrapped up in it." 

The Lieutenant looked at the date of the paper ; it was 
the previous day's number of a Radical journal. 

'' So, we read the paper here ; the vilest rag, too, that 
was ever printed. Well, you will see what it will cost you, 
you dirty Communard. To begin with, you'll have eight 
days' Salle de Police, and I shall specially report you." 
So saying, the Lieutenant, holding the paper by the tips of 
his fingers, at arm's length, as if it had been something 
likely to contaminate him, handed it over to the Sergeant, 
de Lanoy, ordering him to go and throw that " vermin " 
on the dung-heap. " De Lanoy," he added, '' on your way 
stop at the Sergeant-major's office and tell him to put you 
down for two days' Salle de Police for the disgusting state 
in which your peloton is kept." 

As the Lieutenant was looking over the last trooper's 
outfit our Captain came into the room. The Lieutenant 
went and spoke to him, and they both returned towards 
Titi's bed. 

134 



TROOPER 3809 

*' So, Martin," said the Captain in a great rage, '' you 
dare to read papers in the barracks,* and as you are now 
undergoing eight days' Salle de Police you cannot possibly 
have brought it in yourself. I want to know from whom 
you got it ? " 

'' I didn't get it from anybody, sir," replied Titi. " I 
found it in the courtyard of the infantry barracks." 

*' Don't tell me lies," said the Captain sternly, '' or you'll 
be sorry for it. Tell me who gave you that paper." 

" Nobody, sir." 

" If you tell me," said the Captain, " I won't increase 
the punishment Lieutenant Pernod has given you. If you 
don't, I'll give you eight days' prison." 

** I found it, sir," insisted Titi. 

** Very well," said the Captain, " get your things ready 
to go to prison." 

'* Yes, sir," politely replied Titi. 

*' And if you go on much longer like that," said the 
Captain, in a voice shaking with rage, '' you'll soon go to 
Biribi."t 

The Captain walked out, accompanied by the Lieuten- 
ant, and soon afterwards two men from the guard, accom- 
panied by a Corporal, came into the room with drawn 
swords, and Titi was marched away between them to the 
prison. 

On inspection days we did squadron duty after 
" stables," having neither drill nor school, and those 
Volontaires who were not undergoing pmiishment were at 
liberty to go out of barracks until 8 p.m. The troopers 
who had twenty-four hours' leave were allowed to quit the 
barracks after evening stables and remain away until the 

* It is strictly forbidden to read newspapers in French barracks and 
any infringement of this regulation is severely punished, 
t Biribiy Cotnpagnies de Discipline^ see p. 32. 



TROOPER 3809 

next Monday at 5 a.m. After stables the regimental 
orders for the day were, as usual, read out to us, as well 
as the punishments. Those were numerous, and included 
two days' confinement to the room, for a Lieutenant, for 
being out in civilian clothes the previous afternoon ; Salle 
de Police for three Sergeants as a result of the inspection, 
while about twenty men were punished similarly, getting 
from two to eight days, their outfit having been found 
short, or their clothes soiled. Among the troopers pun- 
ished with Salle de Police were three Volontaires, and, 
finally, came Titi's name, with a sentence of eight days' 
prison by the Captain " for having introduced a newspaper 
into barracks, and having obstinately refused to give the 
name of the trooper from whom he had obtained it." 

That evening, I was, as usual, taken to the Salle de 
Police, where I was much astonished to find Titi lying on 
a straw mattress rolled up in a blanket. He called out to 
me as soon as the non-commissioned officer had locked us 
in, " Come here, old chap," he said ; " I'll make some room 
for you, old Decle, and we'll share my mattress and 
blanket." 

Although a scoundrel, Titi was at the bottom of his 
heart a kind fellow, and I felt most grateful to him for 
sharing his rough bedding with me, especially when a little 
later on he produced his inevitable candle, and I saw that 
in order to let me lie down comfortably he was lying him- 
self on the bare boards, his back only resting against the 
mattress. 

I inquired from him how it was that he was undergoing 
his prison in the same lock-up as the one used for men 
punished with Salle de Police, and I expressed astonish- 
ment at his being privileged to enjoy a mattress and a 
blanket. He explained to me that the only difference be- 
tween prison and Salle de Police was that the men pun- 

136 



TROOPER 3809 

ished with the former, instead of doing duty in the day- 
time remained in the Salic dc Police day and night. They 
had, however, to do two hours' punishment drill in the 
morning and again in the evening, and during the remain- 
der of the day they were employed on fatigue duty, having 
to carry water about, to make ditches and earthworks, and 
to do all the dirtiest work. On the other hand, they were 
allowed a straw mattress and one blanket, and were not 
called upon to work at the pump in the middle of the night. 
On the whole, it struck me that prison was a far milder 
punishment than Salic dc Police, and I found this un- 
doubtedly to be the case when later on I became personally 
acquainted with the former punishment. 



137 



CHAPTER VIII 

According to the doctor's orders I went to the medical 
visit in the morning. Being a Sunday, there were but a 
few men who had reported themselves, but besides myself 
there were two Volontaircs, one of them being the poor 
fellow of whom I spoke when I described our first riding- 
lesson under Sergeant Legros ; the inside of his knee had 
been so badly scraped that further riding had caused ex- 
tensive inflammation, and he was ordered to the Iniirmerie 
(a kind of hospital ward in the barracks, where sick sol- 
diers who want special attention, but are not ill enough 
to go to hospital, are kept). As before, the doctor kept 
me waiting until he had disposed of the other cases, and 
then exempted me from duty for two days. I was thus 
excused from all work, and, what I still more appreciated, 
had not to sleep in the Salle de Police. 

The doctor also inquired very kindly how we were 
treated by our Sergeant. I frankly told him the truth. " I 
am not astonished," he said ; " I know the man and I pity 
you." He then went on to tell me how different had been 
the treatment of the Volontaircs under the previous Col- 
onel ; m}^ friend, de Lanoy, was then in charge of them, and 
none of the bullying we were subject to ever occurred, or 
would have been tolerated then. The doctor further al- 
lowed me to make use of the dispensary if I cared to read 
or write while off duty, and, as will be seen, I owe an im- 
mense debt of gratitude to him, as well as to the other 
Surgeon-major of my regiment, Dr. Lesage, who was 

1.18 



TROOPER 3809 

Surgeon-captain, Dr. Chatelain holding only the rank of 
Lieutenant. 

In the afternoon I availed myself of the permission 
which had been granted me of using the dispensary, and I 
was sitting there sketching when Surgeon-major Lesage 
stepped into the room. He was a brisk and restless little 
man, very stern in appearance, but with the kindest of 
hearts. 

" What the deuce are you doing there? " he asked, as I 
rose to salute him and stood at attention, I explained 
matters to him. '' Yes," he said, " I know ; Dr. Chatelain 
has spoken to me about you, but you're a bit of a pricot- 
teiir,^ aren't you? " 

" No, sir," I replied. 

" Never mind, never mind," he said in his brusque way. 
" When you are ill, I'll look after you, but don't come to 
me when you aren't — I don't like it." 

He hurried out of the room, and went to visit the troop- 
ers in the sick ward. 

When I resumed work on the Tuesday it had been snow- 
ing hard during the night, and the cold was such that our 
fingers soon became benumbed through contact with our 
carbines. I have omitted to mention that in the cavalry 
white doeskin gloves are always worn at drill ; and we 
were even allowed during the winter months to wear white 
woollen gloves. In the infantry the men drill without 
gloves, and only wear them on parade, or when they go 
out of barracks, their gloves being of white cotton. f 

Before drilling us Sergeant Legros carefully examined 
our carbines, and gave Salle de Police " a Voc'il " to three 

* A fellow who shirks work. 

\ The regulation gloves for officers are brown driving-gloves, except 
on special occasions, such as reviews, official calls, &c,, when white 
gloves have to be worn. 



TROOPER 8809 

of lis. As I have already explained, a Vooil means that the 
punishment is not reported to the officers, and therefore 
is not recorded. In my time this led to monstrous abuse, 
as neither the Captains nor the Colonel were aware of the 
number of men who were daily punished. 

It was so cold that we felt quite delighted when we were 
commanded to start at pas gymnastiqiie (a quick run), 
the Sergeant and the Corporal running with us for a 
couple of hundred yards, when they fell out. We soon, 
however, began to feel exhausted, but Legros noticing this 
called out to us : " You d lazy brutes, keep your dis- 
tances, or I'll leave you on the run for half an hour longer." 
First one, then another, fell out, utterly unable to go on, 
each one of them being told that he would sleep in the 
Salle de Police that night ; then came my turn, with the 
same result, but little did I care for the punishment, as 
I had to sleep in the den in any case. Altogether six of us 
were punished after we had been kept on the run for more 
than a quarter of an hour ! 

We were kept drilling on foot for half an hour longer, 
and during that time our Sergeant took a delight in mak- 
ing us " shoulder arms," '' slope arms," '' present arms," 
and leaving us in the same position for three or four 
minutes at a time, while if a single one of us wavered in 
the least he never failed to make us repeat the movement. 
Day after day the same thing occurred, until the two hours 
of foot drill became a daily terror to us. 

Sergeant Legros took also special pleasure in the volfige. 
The few of us who, like myself, had soon learnt to run 
alongside the horse while cantering in a circle and to jump 
on his back facing the head or the tail, or to jump on the 
horse and then to alight by passing the leg over the neck, 
jumping up once more astride the animal, were seldom 
called. The Sergeant's delight was to get a Volontaire 

140 



TROOPER 3809 

who could just manage to jump on the cantering horse, 
and then to order another clumsy chap to jump behind 
him : if the man succeeded in doing so without bringing 
the first rider to the ground, the Sergeant whipped the 
horse until both riders fell off, and in that case he usuaUy 
gave each of them one or two days' Salle de Police. 

Another trick he was particularly fond of making us 
perform was '' the scissors." This was usually done on 
the circus saddle, although some of us could do it on the 
bareback horse with only a surcingle. It may be thus de- 
scribed : 

Being on the horse you seize the iron handles fixed on 
each side in front of the saddle, then putting your weight 
on your wrists you throw your legs high up in the air, 
bending forward as much as you can ; you then cross 
your legs, and letting the handles go you drop back into 
the saddle facing the horse's tail. To face once more the 
horse's head you repeat the movement, laying hold of two 
leather loops fixed at the back of the saddle, but you must 
be careful to bend your head downwards towards the out- 
side of the circle described by the horse, or else instead 
of falling on the saddle you are violently jerked to the 
ground. A fairly good rider can soon learn to perform 
this trick bareback, throwing himself back with the aid of 
the handles fixed on to the surcingle, while to face once 
more the horse's head he pushes himself well forward 
towards the withers, and placing his hand on the animal's 
back he vaults with the weight of his body thrown well 
towards the inside of the circle. 

Had we had a different Sergeant who, instead of hav- 
ing but one object in view — to punish us — had put us on 
our mettle and developed a spirit of emulation, we would 
have soon proved the pick of the regiment. One or two 
of the Volontaires were splendid athletes, two of us at 

141 



TROOPER 3800 

least being able to jump over the whole length of a horse 
leap-frog fashion, leaping from behind and landing in 
front of the animal's head. Most of us could in the same 
way jump standing on to the horse's back, my friend 
Delbruck being among the best athletes of our lot. It is 
true that his mother was English and that he had received 
an English education. 

That evening it was freezing so hard that we were al- 
lowed to take our great-coats to the Salic de Police, and 
the Sergeant of the Guard being a friend of de Lanoy's 
I was excused from pumping water, and sent to my bed 
at 3 A.M. The following day I was still more lucky, for 
de Lanoy having taken the guard, allowed me to sleep in 
the stables instead of the Salic dc Police. I made myself 
snug alongside my mare, and the dear little beast cannot 
have moved for hours, for I slept beside her from 8.30 p.m. 
till 3 A.M. I was awakened by a great commotion: one 
of the chargers had kicked in such a way as to get astride 
the partition of his stall, where he got stuck. I arose to 
help the stable guard, and with the handle of a broom we 
managed after a good deal of trouble to unhook the par- 
tition, which fell to the ground, releasing the unfortunate 
horse. 

I then returned to my own charger's stall, and passed a 
most comfortable night. I had once more to sleep in the 
Salle de Police, but, fortunately, that was my last day 
of it for the time being. 

The frost was getting more intense every day, and it 
has, indeed, been recorded that the winter of 1879 was 
one of the severest within the memory of man. The cold 
at last was such that orders were given by various Cap- 
tains that we should drill in the stables instead of out of 
doors; this at least saved us from having to run round a 
yard until v/e were completely exhausted. 

142 



TROOPER 3809 

As we began to know Sergeant Legros better we were 
able to realise into what hands we had fallen : some days 
he was in a good humour and none of us would be pun- 
ished ; at other times he would only put in an appearance 
when we were assembled for drill on foot ; but when he 
failed to appear at morning school, which in his absence 
was presided over by a Corporal, we were certain that it 
was a bad sign. The moment he appeared he looked 
sulky, with a heavy cloud over his face, and his first words 
to us usually were, '' I am going to stick four of you in 
the Salle de Police to-night, so you had better look out." 
This promise he never failed to keep, and four of us in- 
variably slept in the lock-up. 

We were already in the middle of December, and 
Christmas was fast approaching, so that we all looked 
forward to the few days' leave we hoped to get at that 
festive season ; but, alas, I little suspected what was about 
to befall me. The Colonel seemed to have taken an in- 
creased dislike to Volontaires. First came a regimental 
order by which the Volontaires were strictly forbidden to 
mess at the canteen. As, however, he could not stretch 
regulations far enough to prevent us from using the can- 
teen, he worded the order thus : " In future," he said, 
" the Volontaires will have to go and fetch their rations 
from the kitchen like other troopers ; Corporals are en- 
joined" to report any Volontaire failing to obey this or- 
der." This was all very well, but he could not compel us 
to eat if we were not hungry. Still, the result of this or- 
der was great inconvenience to us, as it meant our being 
detained in the room until our gamelle had been brought 
by the orderly. 

On the Sunday before Christmas I was expecting a 
party of friends who had promised to come and look me 
up, and had asked me to dinner. At afternoon " stables " 

143 



TROOPER 3809 

I therefore went to the officer of the week, and asked him 
for ten o'clock leave, as I said some members of my 
family were coming to see me. Immediately after 
" stables," donning one of the uniforms I had had specially 
made of better cloth, I went to the station to await my 
friends' arrival. They were artists, and were accom- 
panied by two music-hall stars of the day. I waited for 
them on the platform, and when they alighted from their 
compartment, one of the ladies complained that an old 
gentleman, whom she pointed out to me, had been rub- 
bing his foot against hers in so persistent and insulting 
a manner that she was compelled to request him to desist. 
I had a good stare at the old man, and made some uncom- 
plimentary remark to the lady about him. We then pro- 
ceeded to take our seats in a four-in-hand brake I had 
hired for the occasion, and drove off merrily to the forest, 
a few miles from the town. I was driving, and on the 
way I observed that we passed in one of the streets the 
old gentleman of the train. We spent a most pleasant 
afternoon, and were enjoying our dinner when my friend 
de Lanoy sent word that he wanted to speak to me. I 
asked him to join us, but he declined to do so, and in- 
sisted upon the waiter telling me that it was most im- 
portant that I should come out to him at once. Accord- 
ingly I went, and, at de Lanoy 's request, we adjourned 
to my room. 

" What the deuce have you been doing, old chap ? " he 
began; " Major Vian has just been to the barracks, fum- 
ing with rage, and ordered me to mount my horse and 
look for you all over the town, and when I had found you, 
I was to bring you back with me, and stick you straight 
off in prison." 

I simply could not understand what it meant, and told 
him exactly how the case stood : that some friends, whose 

144 



TROOPER 3809 

names I mentioned, as he knew them also, had come to 
spend the afternoon with me, and that before dinner we 
had driven in a brake to the forest. I asked de Lanoy 
whether by so doing I had in any way infringed the regu- 
lations ; but he told me that he did not see anything ir- 
regular in my proceedings. He then inquired whether 
I had met the Major on the way and failed to salute him ; 
but I was able to assure him that I was quite certain that 
I had duly saluted every officer I came across. " Well," 
he said, " I cannot understand it ; but I will tell you what 
I will do for you: I will tell the Major that I couldn't 
find you; so go on with your dinner, and, as you 
have ten o'clock leave, enjoy yourself till then; but you 
must expect to be locked up the moment you return to 
barracks." De Lanoy then expressed his regret at being 
unable to join us, explaining that being on duty he could 
not possibly do so. This occurrence naturally marred the 
gaiety of the following proceedings, but my friends tried 
to cheer me up, and affected to treat the adventure as a 
joke. At ten o'clock I returned to barracks and reported 
myself to the Sergeant of the Guard. The Sergeant, a 
friend of mine, told me that " I had put my foot in it," 
and that he had strict orders to march me to the cells then 
and there. At the same time, with some curiosity, he 
asked me what I had been doing. I was as ignorant as 
he was of my supposed crime, and could supply him with 
no information. I handed my sword over to one of the 
troopers of the guard, and asked him to take it to my 
room with my helmet. I was then marched off to the 
cells. Between ten o'clock and midnight five more troop- 
ers were brought into the prison, all of them in full uni- 
form, and in a disgusting state of drunkenness ; of course 
they kicked up an awful row, and there was no sleep for 
me, as may well be imagined. At half-past twelve we 

145 



TROOPER 3809 

heard a tremendous disturbance outside the cell door, and 
the moment it was opened a trooper, mad with drink, 
struggling, kicking, and swearing, was chucked inside. 
As soon as the door had been closed upon him he rushed 
to it, and for fully a quarter of an hour went on hammer- 
ing and kicking at it like a maniac ; realising then that his 
efforts were all in vain, he tottered towards the camp bed 
and threw himself bodily on two or three men who were 
lying on it. He was received with curses, and violently 
thrown off, dropping with a tremendous thud on to the 
pavement of the cell. He arose, however, madder than 
ever, and, with oaths and curses, declared that he was 

going to rip open the whole b lot of us. 

Unfortunately at that moment one of the troopers 
struck a match and lit a candle. This only added to the 
fellow's drunken fury, and to our horror we saw him pull 
a huge clasp-knife from one of his pockets. We all 
sprang to our feet, but the drunken man, selecting a 
trooper against whom he evidently had a grudge, made a 
rush for him ; at the same time the candle was upset, and 
in the dark we could hear the two men struggling and 
rushing about the cell. " Who has got a match ? " I 
shouted. As ill luck would have it nobody could find one 
for the moment, so, unwilling to be ripped open in the 
dark, I groped my way towards a recess where " Jules " 
stood, and closed the door behind me. A few minutes, 
perhaps but a few seconds, later I heard Piatte's deep bass 
voice saying, " No you don't, my children, no you don't ! " 
I carefully peeped out, slightly opening the door. The 
candle had been relighted, and in the middle of the cells 
stood Piatte, in uniform, holding two men, one by his 
coat-collar, and the other by the wrist. It appears that 
Piatte had returned to barracks drunk that night, and had 
been taken to the lock-up, but, being in a very quiet mood 

146 



TROOPER 3809 

when " boozed," he had merely gone to He down In a cor- 
ner. He had been aroused by the noise of the fight, and 
had immediately jumped up to separate the belHgerents. 
It was dark when he first tackled them, and in the strug- 
gle he had been stabbed through the arm. In the mean- 
time someone had found a match and re-lighted the candle 
just as I emerged from my place of safety. It was superb 
to see the Hercules Piatte holding these two men, abso- 
lutely frenzied as they were, as easily as if they had been 
mere babies. " Put down your knives, you beggars," he 
said to them, and as the man who had begun the row, and 
whose wrist he held, swore that he would do no such 
thing, but that he w^ould soon have his knife through 
Piatte's digestive organs, the latter gave a wrench to his 
wrist which made the weapon drop to the ground. Some 
of us had in the meantime disarmed the other fellow, and 
Piatte then addressed them : 

" Are you going to be quiet and go to sleep, you silly 
beggars ? " 

A torrent of abuse was the only reply, and the two com- 
batants continued to swear they would have one another's 
blood. 

" Very well ! " said Piatte. " If you are so anxious to 
knock each other about here goes ! " and so saying, he 
banged the two men one against the other half a dozen 
times as If they had been mere puppets. He then let 
them go. " Got enough of It, my boys ? " he asked 
grimly. 

They had apparently had quite enough of It, for they 
both went to lie down moaning heavily. Curiously 
enough, neither of them had been stabbed, and they had 
only received some Insignificant scratches. Beckoning 
to Platte to come to me, I examined his wound : luckily 
for him he was wearing his uniform coat, and the thick- 

147 



TROOPER 3809 

ness of the cloth had partly stopped the knife, and it had 
only penetrated slightly into the flesh of his arm. It was 
with difficulty that I induced him to let me bind it up with 
my pocket handkerchief, a trifling service which the kind- 
hearted fellow never forgot, and which he repaid in more 
ways than one. When the Sergeant of the Guard came 
at 3 A.M. to take the men to the pump, I was ordered to 
stop in the cells, the Sergeant having received special in- 
structions to keep me there until the Major turned up in 
the morning. There were two prisoners to keep me com- 
pany, but dog-tired as I was, I soon dropped off to sleep, 
and did not awake till half-past six, when my friend de 
Lanoy came to look me up. He had tried to find out 
what I was charged with, but had failed to do so; he 
promised, however, to come and let me know as soon as 
he obtained any information, so that I should be prepared 
to face the Major, before whom I was to be brought at lo 
A.M. De Lanoy also kindly suggested sending me my 
washing materials and a razor, in order that I should not 
look the disgraceful object I then did. Shortly after- 
wards the Corporal of the Guard brought me my things, 
as well as a bucket and a looking-glass, and while I 
was making my toilet he chattered with me about my 
case. 

" You're in a nice hole, old boy," he said, " and I 
shouldn't like to stand in your shoes. What on earth 
have you been doing? " 

I assured him that this was the very thing I did not 
know myself. 

" Now that is all rot," he replied. " It must have been 
something, jolly serious, too, for when the Major came to 
the barracks yesterday he was in a greater rage than I 
have ever seen him in before. Yes," he went on, " I really 
thought he would have had a fit." 

148 



TROOPER 3809 

I once more renewed my assurance that I was abso- 
lutely unconscious of having done anything wrong. 

" Get along with you," said the Corporal; " you won't 
get me to believe that, but if you choose to keep it to 
yourself, do so, by all means, I don't care." He then took 
my things away, and I was soon left to my own thoughts, 
the two prisoners being taken out to do work. At 9 
o'clock de Lanoy returned, and told me that so far all 
he knew was that I had been given four days' Salle de 
Police by the Lieutenant who had given me 10 o'clock 
leave the previous day. 

At 10.30 A.M. the door of the cells once more opened, 
and the Corporal of the Guard ordered me to step out, 
whereupon I was marched off between two of the troopers 
of the guard, who, with drawn swords, escorted me as far 
as the Salle de Rapport. The Adjiidant soon came to the 
door and ordered me to walk in, stepping out himself at 
the same time, and closing the door behind him. The 
room was a spacious one, with a large table in the middle 
of it, at which a small bald-headed man sat signing docu- 
ments ; his back was turned to me whilst I stood near the 
door at attention. After a few minutes' silence, only in- 
terrupted by the grating of his pen upon the paper, the 
little man, without turning round, called out : 

'' Trooper Decle, come here." 

I advanced, turned round to face him, and, as I saluted, 
what was my horror at discovering that the enterprising 
old gentleman whose foot had annoyed one of my lady 
friends in the train on the previous day, and about whom 
I had passed some rather uncivil remarks, was . . . my 
Major! ! The reason I had not recognised him as- an 
officer was that since I had joined the regiment he had 
been away on leave, and he had only just returned. I 
stood at " attention," my heart beating fast, but the old 

149 



TROOPER 3809 

gentleman (his age was perhaps fifty-six or fifty-seven) 
did not speak a word, but stared at me from head to foot 
with a look that seemed to pierce me. 

*' So," he said, after a few minutes' time, " we are one 
of these Volontaires, one of these dashing Volontaires, 
who, although they wear a Dragoon uniform, are nothing 
after all but dirty petits creves. We invite painted fe- 
males, who are nothing but low Cocottes, to come and 
visit us, and we parade them about the streets in a four- 
horse brake when our officers are content to walk on foot ! 
Trooper Decle," he proceeded in a stern voice, '' you are 
a disgrace to the 50th Dragoons. You have disgraced 
your uniform by a contact with such creatures, you have 
disgraced yourself by passing uncalled-for remarks on 
your betters, and although you are a Volontaire you are 
a liar, and nothing but a b maqucrcau." 

I turned pale under the insult, but as I had determined 
to keep my temper, I made no reply. This seemed to 
excite the gradually rising fury of the Major, who had 
now risen from his chair and was pacing up and down 
the room livid with rage. 

" Why don't you answer? " he cried ; " what have you 
got to say, dirty swine that you are! I suppose you 
belong to the class of youngsters who are proud to be 
seen in the company of Cocottes, and afterwards leave 
those ladies to settle the bill for them." 

This I confess was too much for me, but still deter- 
mined to outwardly restrain my temper, I took two steps 
towards the Major, and crossing my arms on my chest, 
looked him straight in the eyes. 

*' I have let you insult me, sir," I said slowly, " in 
order to see how far you would go. The ladies of whom 
you have just spoken are, I know, far above your con- 
tempt, and it strikes me that if they had cared to accept 

150 



TROOPER 3809 

your senile advances, you would probably have thought 
them most divine creatures. I need not defend them, 
they are too well known to require such defence," I con- 
tinued, mentioning their names. 

*' As for myself," I went on, " you have accused me 
of playing the basest part a man can play in this world. 
It was not through respect for the gold stripes you wear 
on your sleeve that I kept silent, but through respect for 
your white hairs. In a few^ months' time I shall no 
longer be a Dragoon, and I hope that in a few years I 
shall be somebody, while you v/ill be — yourself: nothing 
else but one of the mass of retired Majors whose intelli- 
gence and means will limit them to a glass of absinthe, 
and a game of dominoes before dinner, and the company 
of a local bailiff, or the constable of their native village. 
You called me a maqiicrcaii just now, and you seem to 
be so well acquainted with the habits of that class, that 
I can only conclude that you gained that knowledge per- 
sonally at a time when nature made you more attractive 
than you are now." 

The Major, who had been too dumfounded to answer 
a word so far, turned pale when I uttered those words, 
and, seizing his riding-whip, which lay on the table, lifted 
it as though about to strike me, shouting at the same 
time, in a voice choked with rage, "Miserable! '' I 
wrenched the whip from his hands, and replacing it on 
the table stood once more at " attention." 

*' I will court-martial you," went on the Major ; " you 
shall have ten years for this ! " 

" I may or may not, sir," I replied ; " but supposing I 
am court-martialled, I shall bring witnesses to expose the 
way in which you behaved in the train yesterday, and 
vou may regret the step you have taken. As to our 
present conversation there is only your word against 

151 



TROOPER 3809 

mine, but I suppose that being only a trooper my word' 
will stand for nothing, still, as I told you before, think 
well over the matter before you do anything rash." 

The Major said nothing, but went on feverishly pacing 
up and down the room. He at last stopped, and sat down 
at the table. 

" Decle," he said, " Lieutenant Riel has given you four 
days' Salle dc Police for having told him a lie in asking 
for ten o'clock leave on the pretence that you were going 
to meet your family, and your punishment will be in- 
creased to fifteen days' Salle do Police for having been 
seen driving a four-in-hand through the town in fancy 
uniform. Now, go ! " 

I did not wait to ask for any further explanation, being 
only too glad to escape as I had. I must add that the 
Major was evidently persuaded that he had put himself 
in the wrong, for I was never afterwards punished by 
him, and in no case did he increase any punishment given 
to me. The whole thing was pretty rough on me, how- 
ever, as those fifteen days meant my spending Christ- 
mas and New Year in the cells while all my comrades 
were enjoying a well-deserved leave. After the eight 
days' cells I had previously had, those fifteen days given 
I to me within the first two months of my service branded 
me as a bad character, and I fully realised that in future 
punishments would be showered upon me. 



152 



CHAPTER IX 

It will be readily understood that the end of that year 
was one of the most unpleasant times I ever went through. 
The cold was bitter, and we were pretty nearly frozen 
in the Salic dc Police. Just before Christmas all my 
comrades went home with eight days' leave, and I was 
the only Volontairc left behind. There was one comfort, 
however, in the fact that. Sergeant Legros being also on 
leave, I escaped his daily bullying. By that time I had 
also learned how to avoid all fatigue duty, having found 
out that there was not a single one of our Corporals who 
was not open to a bribe ; in fact, some of them knowing 
that I was pretty free with my money, openly came to 
me, saying, " I say, Decle, I am thirsty to-day ; are you 
going to stand a bottle, or do you want to do fatigue 
duty ? " Of course I immediately forked out a franc, 
and was thereupon left alone. I had also made friends 
with a good many of the Sergeants, and when any of 
those with whom I was friendly took the guard they in- 
variably allowed me to sleep in the stables instead of the 
Salic dc Police. The cold was so bitter just before 
Christmas that the Colonel issued an order allowing the 
troopers punished with Salic dc Police to wear their sec- 
ond-best regimental trousers under their canvas ones, and 
to use their great-coats when sleeping in the cells. 

On Christmas Day more than fifteen troopers were 
thrown into the Salle dc Police during the night, all of 
them having returned to barracks in a state which an 

153 



TROOPER 3809 

English policeman would describe as " drunk and dis- 
orderly " ; prominent among them were Titi and Piatte, 
both most gloriously drunk, but having just enough sense 
left to remember that their chum Decle was in durance 
vile. The moment they got in they called out for me, 
and on my answering them, they threatened every one 
with blue murder if a candle was not produced at once, 
as they wanted to see their dear Decle. I had smuggled 
in a candle as well as some matches, and thinking that 
it might keep them quiet, I lit it. The moment they saw 
me they rushed to me with demonstrations of affection 
with which I could well have dispensed, Piatte especially 
insisting on repeatedly embracing me, and, unconscious 
of his great strength, hugging me as tightly as a bear, 
until I feared he would crack my ribs. The boon com- 
panions then produced a miscellaneous collection of arti- 
cles from their pockets — greasy papers containing sau- 
sages and boiidin (a kind of sausage made of pig's blood 
with a lavish addition of garlic) ; mixed up with these 
were bits of cheese, cakes, and, last but not least, a pint 
of brandy. 

" We brought you that, old chap," said Piatte, " be- 
cause we didn't want an old chum to spend a miserable 
Christmas." 

It must be remembered that Piatte was a Protestant 
from Lorraine, where Christmas is, I believe, religiously 
kept as the greatest festival of the year, while in other 
parts of France New Year's Day is considered far more 
important. To please the poor fellows, whose kind- 
heartedness I fully appreciated, I partook sparingly of 
their victuals, although they were far from appetising. 
I pretended, too, to drink some of the vile brandy, but 
a sip of it was quite enough. The two men then sat 
down near me. 

154 



TROOPER 3809 

" Oh ! " said Piatte, '' we've had a grand time of it, a 
grand time, my boy ! " 

" Yes," interrupted Titi, who was a Httle muddled ; 
" if you had seen that httle infantryman flying out of the 
window you would have simply roared." 

" Don't interrupt, Titi," screamed out Piatte, trying at 
the same time to give Titi a friendly buffet with his open 
palm ; unfortunately, however, I sat between the two, and 
the badly aimed blow fell on my head and nearly knocked 
the senses out of me ; seeing this, Piatte, to comfort me, 
hugged me once more in his powerful arms. 

" Well," he resumed, " we started at three o'clock this 
afternoon, just after stables, and as we got outside Titi 
says to me, ' Got any oof, Piatte ? ' ' Oof,' I says, ' open 
your eyes well and look at that.' I had received, two 
days ago, a remittance from the old woman, my old 
granny — ten francs, jnon salop. So Titi looks at it, and 
he says, * Ah, ten francs ; oh my, Pll show you something 
better than that,' and he pulls out of his pocket a ' gold 
un ' — a whole twenty-franc piece. ' That's from my 
Volontaire; he's a rare un,' he says. 

" That's you, you know," added Piatte, digging me in 
the ribs. 

" That's God's truth," hiccoughed Titi. 

" Shut your head, Titi — you're drunk. Isn't he drunk, 
that fellow ? But, as I was telling you," Piatte went on, 
" we took the road past the railway, and came to that 
little pub * The Three Jolly Comrades,' where there's a 
sign-board where they've painted a Dragoon, a Piou- 
piou,* and a Gunner walking arm-in-arm — you know the 
place, don't you ? " 

I didn't, but assured Piatte that I knew it well. 

" * Let's go in,' says Titi : but I says, ' No.' Fancy go- 

* A common slang expression for an infantryman. 



TROOPER 3809 

ing into a place where they put a Dragoon arm-in-arm 
with a Piou-piou ! But Titi, he says, ' Oh, never mind 
their bally sign-board if their wine's good,' and I says, 

* There's sense in that,' so in we goes. 

'' There was a billiard-table in the place, so I says to 
Titi, * After we have had a drink we will have a game, 
Titi.' We called for a drink, and a jolly nice girl comes 
to serve us. You should have seen her, old chap ; she 
was a regular ripper — plenty of flesh and some to spare. 
I had taken her hand, and was telling her what a fine girl 
she was when half a dozen Piou-pious walked in the 
place. The girl tries to take her hand away and blushes, 
and I see one of the Piou-pious stare at me like mad. 
Well, I didn't say nothing, but I let go the girl's hand, 
and she brings us our wine and a flask of brandy; we 
finish our bottle, and just as we were drinking our last 
glass I see one of the Piou-pious take off his coat, and 
they all take billiard cues and calls out for balls ; so I get 
up and I say, * No, look here ; 'tis our game and not 
yours.' One of them says, ' First come, first served.' I 
says, ' Just so ; we came first, and first we play.' But the 
Piou-pious wouldn't give in, and the one that had stared 
at me, he calls the landlord. When the old man comes 
I say, civil like, ' Now, look here, landlord : I have come 
into your house, although I didn't like that 'ere board on 
the outside. How dare you call that " The Three Jolly 
Comrades," and put up a picture of a Dragoon walking 
arm-in-arm with a dirty mean bug of a Piou-piou, like if 
any Dragoon would lower himself in that way.' 

" ' Dirty mean bug! ' shout all the Piou-pious together. 

* You filthy citrouiUel' (A nickname given to Dra- 
goons, meaning " pumpkin.") 

'' This was too much for me, so I turns to Titi and I 
says, * Did you hear that ? ' 

156 



TROOPER 3809 

" ' Didn't I ? ' he says. ' What shall we do — chuck all 
these dirty shrimps out of the window, eh ? ' 

" That's it,' I say, and I goes to open the window. I 
must tell you Titi and I had taken off our swords and 
put them in a corner when we came in. I had just 
opened the window when one of them takes his billiard 
cue by the tip and hits me with the thick part of it ; but 
it just struck on my helmet, and you can see it hit hard. 
Look," added Piatte, picking up his helmet, which was 
quite bashed in. " Oh, then," he went on, '' my blood 
was up and I went for that chap, and without more cere- 
mony I take him by his coat-tails and his collar, and I 
send him, cue and all, right over the billiard-table, where 
he falls all of a heap and stops there. At the same time 
the four others had set on Titi, so I rushed to his help ; 
he was down, and they were hammering at him like mad ; 
so I hit one here, I hit another there, I gave the third 
a dig in the chest with my head, I sent the fourth against 
the billiard-table with a kick, and Titi gets on his legs. 
The others, except the one I had chucked over the bil- 
liard-table, had also got up, and we were fighting like 
mad when three other devils who were passing along the 
road stepped in and joined in the row. ' Oh,' I says, * is 
that so ? Helmets, then ! ' Titi understands me ; we 
take our helmets off, and swinging them by the end of 
the horse-tail, we strike right in among them promiscu- 
ous like. My boy, if you had seen them: they drops one 
after the other ; only three of them remained standing up, 
and while Titi was having it out in the corner with one 
of the chaps I stood facing the two others. One of them, 
the coward, draws his sword-bayonet, but with a swing 
of my helmet I knocks it out of his hand, and as the win- 
dow stood open I chucked him out of it. The other one, 
in the meantime, had caught hold of me from behind, but 

157 



TROOPER 3809 

I soon shook him off, and hfting him from the ground — 
he was a miserable httle cur — I shook him hke a rat. I 
bang him against the wall, and at last he cries, ' Oh, don't, 
don't.' ' Going to beg pardon ? ' I asked. ' Oh, yes,' he 
says, ' I beg pardon.' ' Very well, then,' I says, sticking 
him on the ground, standing with his back to me, ' if you 
move God help you ! ' at the same time I holler, ' Pre- 
pare to receive cavalry ! ' and didn't he receive cavalry, 
just! With one kick in the back I sent him flying to join 
the others." 

At the recollection of this Piatte burst into such a roar 
of laughter that it awoke Titi, who had fallen asleep on 
my shoulder, and he, too, began to guffaw idiotically. 

" Shut up, Titi," yelled Piatte once more. " Where 
was I ? Oh, I know," he went on. " Titi had by this 
time knocked his man down, and without asking for our 
bill, we pick up our swords and bolt like mad. As we 
get out, the chap I had chucked out of the window has 
just regained his feet, and he hollers ' Murder! Murder! ' 
He w^as a Corporal, and 'twas a bad case. The landlord 
had been hollering ' Murder ! ' the whole time ; but, d'ye 
see, the place stands all by itself, and only the three chaps 
I spoke of heard him. We hadn't gone a hundred yards 
before we see all the Piou-pious rush out of the pub and 
make for us like mad. We hadn't been such fools as to 
cut towards the town, so when we saw them after us we 
made off across country, and, as luck would have it, they 
didn't chivy us far. But we'd given them too good a 
dressing to be up to much. All the same, we ran for 
another mile, and then we sat down and had a good 
laugh. Then Titi, he says, ' It's all very fine, but I don't 

like it ; that ere d d Corporal '11 be bad for our health : 

we must rig up an alleyby.' So to rig up his blooming 
alleyby, he says, ' Let's go down to the river, and first of 

158 



TROOPER 3809 

all let's have a swill ! ' — we were pretty bloody and dirty, 
you bet — ' and then well go to a bloke I know who's got 
a boat, and then we'll get bach to the town, and make out 
as how we've come from the North Road, and we've 
been in the forest, and you got your helmet smashed 
bird's-nesting.' And so we did. By a roundabout way 
we got to the river and had a wash ; we soon found Titi's 
bloke, and he took us over in his boat. * Give us a hind- 
wheel,' says Titi, and he hands it over to the boat chap. 
' Mind you,' says Titi, ' you've seen no Dragoons to-day.' 
* Mum's the word,' he says back, and he pulls off and 
throws a line into the water quite innocent like. We ran 
towards the forest until we hit the road, and then we 
walked quietly down towards the town. On the way we 
meets Lieutenant Granford riding; he stops and says, 
'What's the matter with your helmet?' * Oh, sir,' I 
says, * I tried to get a rook's nest, and nearly broke my 
neck.' ' Well,' says the Lieutenant — he's a good sort, 
you know — * you'll have to pay for it ; but bird's-nesting 
is a better occupation than getting drunk.' ' Yes, sir,' 
says Titi, ' we don't mean to liquor any more ! ' ' I'm 
glad to hear it,' says the Lieutenant, and he canters off. 

" ' There's our alleyby,' says Titi, ' all cut and dried, and 
now for a bally good booze ! ' Ah ! my boy, what a day 
we had of it ! But unluckily we forgot the time. We'd 
only got ten o'clock leave, and as we were looking for 
another pub, to blow off our remaining four francs, we 
found one where the shutters were just being put up. ' By 
Jove ! ' says Titi, and asking the chap who was putting up 
the shutters what sort of time it was, we heard ' 'twas a 
quarter to twelve ! ' Off we cut to barracks, but on the 
way, just as we were getting round the corner, Titi didn't 
feel well, and he says, * Hold hard a minute, old chap ! ' 
That's just what done it. Titi never can stand a drop of 

159 



TROOPER 3809 

lush, and he began to be that sick, and made such a bally 
row, that the Adjiidant, who was sneaking about the shop, 
he pounces on us, and wants our names. So long as we 
were walking it was all right ; but the moment we had to 
stand at ' attention ' things began to swim a bit. I see 
Titi isn't steady, so I catch hold of him to prop him up ; 
but he clutches me, and we both spraivl on the ground. 
Well, that finished it. The Adjudani calls out to the 
sentry to send two men from the guard-room, and he 
orders them to march us up to the Salle de Police — and 
here we are. But we had a jolly good drunk," concluded 
Piatte, with a satisfied air ; and extinguishing the candle 
we went to sleep. 

The next day the two revellers had fifteen days' prison 
by the Colonel's orders. A complaint was lodged by the 
Colonel of the infantry regiment that an assault had been 
committed by Dragoons on one of his Corporals, and it 
appeared that two of the privates had also been seriously 
injured in the fray, and were lying in hospital. Fortu- 
nately for Piatte and Titi the injured Corporal and his 
comrades had reported that they were set upon by at least 
half-a-dozen Dragoons. The case was a serious one, how- 
ever, and I feared that Piatte and Titi would be found out ; 
this would mean a court-martial, and very likely they 
would be sentenced to death, a sentence invariably car- 
ried out in all cases when an inferior has been striking a 
superior. The following day the Corporal and two of the 
soldiers who had taken part in the fight were taken 
through our barracks. We were all mustered by squad- 
rons in stable-dress, the prisoners among the others ; the 
Corporal and the two infantry soldiers were marched 
along our ranks, and the Corporal soon pointed out a 
trooper as one of the offenders, while the two privates 
also declared that they recognised him. It fortunately 

1 60 



TROOPER 3809 

turned out that the man was on guard duty the previous 
day; and on discovering this our Captain of the Week, 
who was in charge of the parade, immediately ordered the 
infantry soldiers to be taken back to their barracks, and 
to be sent straight off to prison ; he also drew up a strong 
report against them, which was at once handed over to 
our Colonel, who demanded an exemplary punishment for 
the men from the Colonel commanding the infantry regi- 
ment. Doubtless these men merely made a mistake, for 
troopers look so different in stable-dress and in full uni- 
form, that it is almost impossible to recognise them, un- 
less you know them personally. Nevertheless, it was a 
narrow escape for Piatte and Titi. Our Captain gladly 
availed himself of the men's mistake to prevent further 
investigation, as the rivalry which exists between troopers 
and infantry soldiers extends to the officers, and in cases 
such as the one I have just described officers will generally 
try and screen their men. It is, indeed, very seldom that 
infantry officers are seen with cavalry officers, who gen- 
erally look down upon the former with utter contempt. 

Betw^een Christmas and New Year we had hardly any 
drill, a large number of the troopers being away on leave, 
so that with the exception of stables we had scarcely any 
work, and I was able to rest in the day-time. At night 
I had, of course, to sleep in the Salle de Police; it was 
daily more loathsome a trial, as since the frost had set in 
the rats which infested the place were constantly coming 
to lie against us for the sake of heat. I devised an arrange- 
ment which proved most useful. I got a bag made of 
very thin india-rubber sheeting ; it was about six feet 
long with a drawing-string at the top of it, so that when 
I had pulled it on I could fasten it round my neck, and it 
kept me as warm as if I had several blankets over me. 
When it was folded up I could wind it round my waist, 

i6i 



TROOPER 3809 

where it looked like an ordinary belt. I also had the 
benefit of the mattresses Piatte and Titi were allowed as 
prisoners, and I soon got accustomed to the Salle de Police 
without suffering severely from it. There is no doubt, 
however, that it is a cruel and barbarous punishment, es- 
pecially in the cavalry, as neither blankets nor straw mat- 
tresses are allowed to the troopers. In the infantry, 
soldiers punished with Salle de Police are allowed a straw 
mattress and a blanket, and have, moreover, no pumping 
to do in the middle of the night. It is scandalous, too, that 
troopers once in the Salle de Police should be isolated in 
such a way that in case of sickness or emergency they can- 
not possibly summon help. Many fatal cases have been 
the result of this practice. Some years ago a trooper was 
found in the morning frozen to death in the cells, and yet 
more serious tragedies have occurred. Since I served 
there was the case of a Zouave who was put in solitary 
confinement and forgotten there, his body being only 
found a week later ; so great had been his pangs of hunger 
that it was found that he had been trying to eat the flesh 
of his arms and his hands, and when he was discovered 
the rats had themselves eaten a portion of his back and of 
his throat. I also remember another case of a man who 
was sent to the punishment battalions in Algeria ; he was 
punished with two days in the silos and was forgotten 
there, and when he was discovered six days later he was 
still breathing, but the whole of his chest, on which he 
had been lying, was but a vast ulcer swarming with mag- 
gots. " How ? " it will be asked, '' can such a thing oc- 
cur ? " It may be explained in a few words. 

Every morning before the guard is changed a list of all 
the men who are punished is drawn up by the Adjiidanfs 
clerk. In the columns standing opposite their names is 
written down the class of punishment which they are un-- 

162 



TROOPER 3809 

dergoing, with the number of days they have still to do, 
thus : 

HoMMES FUNIS. (Men punished.) 





Escadron (squadron). 


Nature des Punitions. 
(Nature of Punishments.) 


NoMS (Names) . 


6 

in *^ 




o 

m 


Cellule 
(solitary- 
confinement). 


Martin 

Piatte 

Duval 

Decle 

&c. &c. 


3 
3 

2 

3 




12 


6 
5 


3 



As will be seen, the numbers in the various columns re- 
served for each punishment indicate how many more days 
of that class of punishment the soldier has to undergo, and 
this list is stuck on a board which is hung up in the room 
of the Sergeant of the Guard, a fresh list being made up 
every day. Supposing that by some mistake the Adjii- 
danfs clerk should, in making up his fresh list, put the 
figure belonging to Trooper Duval's name in the C.B. 
column instead of the cells, the Sergeant of the Guard 
would naturally conclude that there were no men in cells, 
and since in the case of certain barracks the cells are a few 
hundred yards away from the guard-room, the unfortunate 
fellow would be left in them without food, and might be 
unable to make himself heard. This was actually the case 
in the instance of the Zouave I have just mentioned. This 
arrangement turned out, however, to my benefit. One 
day, as I was complaining to de Lanoy of the hardship of 

163 



TROOPER 3809 

having still ten days' Salle de Police before me, he sug- 
gested my making friends with the Adjudanfs clerk, who 
would gradually leave out a few days in the punishment 
list ; for instance, when I had still eleven days to do, he 
would mark nine days on his list, and at the end of a 
couple of days more, instead of marking seven days 
against my name he would put down five, and the follow- 
ing day mark me as having only three days more, so that 
in this way I should contrive to sleep in the Salle de Police 
for seven nights instead of twelve. De Lanoy added that 
this could never be found out, as the Sergeants of the 
Guard were daily replaced, and none of them saw any- 
thing but the fresh list. I immediately followed his advice, 
and found that a young fellow with whom I had become 
great friends had previously acted as Adjudaiifs clerk, 
and was on very good terms with the present occupant of 
the post. Both were fond of drawing, and as I did a little 
in that way myself, my friend suggested that he should 
take me to the clerk's office to show me his drawings. We 
adjourned there at once, and in the course of conversa- 
tion my friend suggested to the clerk that he might as 
well strike off a few days from the remainder of my pun- 
ishment. The latter readily agreed, and explained that it 
was especially easy to do so the following morning, as on 
that day the Week would be taken by the second Adjudant. 
He then asked me how many days I had still to do, and I 
told him that twelve days remained. " Oh, that will be all 
right," he said. " I'll put you down for seven, so that in 
case the Adjudant, who is just quitting duty to-morrow 
morning, should, when he takes back ' the week,' look 
through the list, he would again see your name on it. But 
it is very unlikely that he will see the list. He never calls 
for it." 

This plan was duly carried out, with complete success, 

164 



TROOPER 3809 

though unfortunately it did not prevent my sleeping in the 
Salle de Police on New Year's Day. 

I had purposely avoided going to the medical visit, as 
we had but little work in the daytime, and I did not like to 
pester the doctor or to take advantage of his kindness. I 
had cause to regret, however, not having done so on New 
Year's Day, as I spent a terrible night on that occasion. 
More than twenty-five troopers were thrown into the Salle 
de Police, and the disgraceful scenes I have previously de- 
scribed were renewed. Quarrels, fights, and fiendish 
uproar lasted throughout the night, so that I was unable 
to close my eyes. I was not, however, ejected from my 
resting-place, as I was lying between Piatte and Titi, who 
soon disposed of any man who tried to encroach on our 
domain. I fully expected that on the occasion of New 
Year's Day the Colonel would, in accordance with prec- 
edent, cancel all punishments. There was one man in 
solitary confinement, three in prison (viz., Piatte, Titi, and 
another trooper who had been absent without leave for 
five days), and about ten other troopers punished with 
Salle de Police, ranging from three to five days. On 
New Year's Eve the Colonel proclaimed in the Regi- 
mental Orders that all punishments would be cancelled, 
except in the case of troopers who were undergoing a 
punishment of more than eight days' Salle de Police. 
This, of course, was aimed at me, for the Colonel was fully 
aware that I was the only trooper who had lately been 
punished with fifteen days' Boite. As, however, I was 
free in the daytime, although I could not go out of bar- 
racks, I got a good dinner prepared at the infantry can- 
teen, where I used to go and take my meals siih rosa. I 
also managed to bribe the Corporal of the Guard, and 
sent through him half a bottle of brandy, a bottle of wine, 
and a large meat pie to my two chums Titi and Piatte in 

i6s 



TROOPER 3809 

prison. I need not say that my attention was greatly 
appreciated, and the two fellows heartily thanked me when 
I joined them in the evening. 

On January 3 we resumed our work, under Sergeant 
Legros, who returned from his leave sulkier and more 
malicious than ever. Four of the Volontaires were sent 
to the Salle de Police that night, and the Sergeant threat- 
ened me with the same punishment because I was hoarse 
and was unable to command when ordered to do so. 

I had now been sleeping for many nights in the lock-up 
and although I did not realise it at the time, the cold 
and dampness of the place had told heavily on me. I 
was so weak that I could hardly sit my horse, and I grew 
worse daily. On the Saturday (inspection day) we did 
our usual squadron duty, and after stables, as I was 
leading my charger to the watering-tanks, I felt hardly 
able to sit on her back. She was as usual prancing and 
plunging, and once or twice I had to cling to her mane 
so as not to drop off. As we were returning from the 
tanks towards the stables, the Lieutenant of the Week, 
who was also the Lieutenant of my peloton, shouted to 
me: 

'' Jump off your charger, and give it to another man." 

I jumped off, and staggered towards the Lieutenant. 

*' You're drunk, you dirty pig ! " he screamed. " You 
shall have eight days' Salle de Police for drunkenness." 
Then turning towards the Sergeant, he went on, " Ser- 
geant, can't you see that man is drunk? Get him taken 
to the cells at once. Why couldn't you have seen before 
that he was drunk? " 

*' I'll teach you, you blackguard ! " he added, turning to 
me. 

I said : " Sir, I am not drunk, I am ill." 

" And you dare reply ! " he again howled ; " you are 

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TROOPER 3809 

always answering back ! We will see what that will cost 
you. Sergeant," he said to de Lanoy, '' you will put down 
eight days' Salle de Police to this drunken swine for hav- 
ing come to stables helplessly intoxicated, and having 
made impertinent remarks to an officer." 

I at once realised that if such a report reached the 
Colonel my punishment would be altered to at least fifteen 
days' prison, and seven days' cells, in solitary confinement, 
on bread-and-water, and that it would further mean a dis- 
grace for me from which I should never recover. Fortu- 
nately, at that very moment, I caught sight in the distance 
of our regimental doctor, and without asking leave I ran 
to him for all I was worth. 

*' Sir," I said, " Lieutenant Pernot has just accused me 
of being drunk, and I implore you to examine me, as I am 
not drunk, but seriously ill." 

The doctor told me to follow him to the dispensary, and 
as I was doing so Sergeant de Lanoy came hurrying 
along. 

*' Decle," he said, " Lieutenant Pernot has sent me to 
bring you back to him at once, and he threatens to have 
you court-martialled for having refused to obey his orders 
when you were told to go to the cells." 

The Surgeon-major, who had caught the message, 
turned round to de Lanoy, " Go and tell Lieutenant 
Pernot," he said, '* that Decle is coming to the dis- 
pensary with me by my orders, and there is an end 
of it." 

De Lanoy returned to the Lieutenant, but before we had 
reached the staircase leading to the dispensary he re- 
turned once more, saying that' the Lieutenant insisted on 
my going back to him, whether the Surgeon-major liked 
it or not. 

The latter, whose temper was shortish, asked in a voice 

167 



TROOPER 3809 

shaking with rage whether de Lanoy was quite sure that 
he had exactly repeated the Lieutenant's words. 

" Yes, sir," rephed de Lanoy. 

" Very weh," said the Surgeon-major, '' tell Lieutenant 
Pernot that I, Surgeon-major Lesage, holding the rank of 
Captain, order Lieutenant Pernot to come to me at once." 

As de Lanoy hesitated, the Surgeon-major angrily 
added, " Do you hear me or not ? You had better tell 
your Lieutenant to hurry up." 

We did not wait long, for Lieutenant Pernot soon 
arrived, and had evidently been hurrying, as he was nearly 
breathless. 

" What the deuce do you mean," said the surgeon, " by 
countermanding my orders ? " 

" Well," replied the Lieutenant, pointing to me, " that 
man is drunk." 

" That remains to be seen," answered the surgeon, " and 
I am the best judge of that. I should strongly advise 
you not to interfere with my orders another time." 

Thereupon he turned on his heel, and telling me to 
follow him, hurried up to the dispensary. There he laid 
me on a sofa^ and asked me what was the matter. I 
told him that I had undergone fifteen days' Salle de Police, 
and felt perfectly worn out. He felt my pulse and took 
my temperature, which was very high. 

** You are pretty bad, my boy," he said, " and I am 
going to send you to hospital." 

I thanked him warmly, and told him how grateful I felt, 
pointing out that had it not been for him I might have 
been disgraced for ever in the regiment. 

" Yes," he said, '* I don't like the way they are treating 
you, and — I will tell you what — whenever you are bullied 
come to me, and I will excuse you from work. I respect 
you because you went through your last punishment with- 

i68 



TROOPER 3809 

out ever coming to the medical visit, and, in future, if 
you don't feel well, you have only got to come here and 
tell me what you don't feel fit for, and I will inform 
the Colonel." He added, " Troopers used to be punished 
only when they deserved it, but now the Salle de Police 
seems to have become a regular institution, and I don't 
like it — that is all I can say." He concluded by telling 
me that the dispensary Corporal would make out my 
Billet de Hopital, and that he himself would come and 
see how I was that same evening. 



169 



CHAPTER X 

It must not be imagined that a trooper can be sent to 
hospital without having to go through innumerable for- 
malities, the French administrative system being so de- 
vised as to complicate the simplest matter. Before going 
to hospital, a full inventory of all the trooper's belongings 
has to be drawn up by the Sergeant fourrier, the trooper 
being allowed to retain only the undress uniform which 
he wears. The remainder of his kit, including his arms, 
are returned to the stores, where a fresh inventory is 
made, his saddle alone remaining in the squadron saddle- 
room. It would be tedious to describe the innumerable 
documents which have to be drawn up on the occasion. 
All these formalities having been at length completed, I 
was marched to the hospital by a Corporal and on arriv- 
ing there, fresh ceremonials had to be gone through, after 
which I was handed over to the tender mercies of a Sister 
of Charity. She took me to the ward reserved for soldiers, 
the hospital being a mixed one, where civilians were also 
received. Our ward contained about twenty-four beds, 
and was spotlessly clean. The beds were excellent, and 
certainly far superior to those usually found in English 
hospitals. I then received my hospital kit, consisting 
of a huge night-shirt, a pair of dark blue flannel trousers, 
with a dressing-gown of the same material, a pair of 
woollen socks, slippers, and a bonnet de coton, a most 
extraordinary head-gear made of thick knitted cotton, 

170 



TROOPER 3809 

finishing up in a point with a tassel sewn on to it. (Most 
of the French peasants still sleep in a similar night-cap, 
and, until thirty years ago, every Frenchman, even if 
belonging to the higher classes, used to wear this strange 
head-gear at night.) I was put to bed; my temperature 
was taken, and then I was left to my own thoughts. In 
the next bed to mine a poor fellow lay with typhoid 
fever, while in the bed on the other side lay an infantry 
soldier suffering from jaundice. The personnel of the 
hospital, or at least of the military wards, consisted of 
three Sisters of Mercy, with an old male nurse belonging 
to the Hospital Service Corps. The latter, however, was 
of little use, as he was usually drunk during three parts 
of the day. The Sisters, however, did not look harshly 
on this little vice of his, for the fellow was a most fervent 
Catholic, who never failed to go to Confession, and to 
High Mass every Sunday. 

I had been about half an hour in my bed, when one of 
the Sisters brought me a cup of tisane, a kind of tea made 
of harmless herbs, which is always given in case of sick- 
ness, whatever may be the disease one may be suffering 
from. That Sister was a middle-aged woman, with hard, 
drawn features ; the turned-down corners of her mouth 
expressed a violent temper, and a square chin showed 
indomitable energy. She sat down near me, and asked 
me if I was a Catholic. I replied that I had been bap- 
tized a Roman Catholic, but that I did not approve of 
the teachings of that religion, all my tendencies being 
Protestant. She expressed absolute horror at my being 
so plain-spoken, and told me that all the patients who 
were Roman Catholics were expected to go to Confession 
and Mass every Sunday. '' li they don't," she added, 
'' we can't compel them, and that is their own look out, 
but they do not usually stay here very long. You had 

171 



TROOPER 3809 

better think the matter over, my lad," she added, as she 
arose from her chair. '' I will send, in any case, the 
chaplain to talk to you of your spiritual state." I thanked 
her, but had no wish to discuss matters with her. 

Later in the afternoon the head doctor of the hospital, 
who was Surgeon-major to the infantry regiment, and 
held the rank of Major, came on a visit of inspection. 
When he came to my bedside, he did not even give me a 
word of greeting, but looked at the board which hung at 
the head of my bed, and reading the diagnosis made by 
our regimental doctor shrugged his shoulders. 

** Again a Dragoon," he said. '' Why can't Dr. Lesage 
keep his patients in his own dispensary? Why did he 
send you here ? " he went on, addressing me. 

" I don't know, sir," I answered ; " I suppose he found 
that I needed to be sent here." 

*' Well, let me see your throat." 

He examined me, and remarked to the Sister that there 
was nothing much the matter with me, and that, although 
I might have a slight rise of temperature, every man had 
fever sometimes, adding that, if every Dragoon who had 
fever was to be sent to hospital, the place would soon 
be overflowing. He walked away with the Sister, and 
I could see that they were having an animated conversa- 
tion. The doctor then came back to my bed : 

*' I hear," he said, '* that you are a d d heathen ; is 

that so?" 

" No, sir," I replied ; " I told the Sister that I did not 
approve of the Roman Catholic religion, and that, al- 
though I had been baptized a Roman Catholic, I was a 
Protestant at heart." 

** Oh," he said, " that is all the same ; you are a heathen, 
and you ought to be ashamed of yourself. That is why, 
I suppose, Dr. Lesage sent you here. He likes heathens, 

172 



TROOPER 3809 

and I don't. Well, he can look after yon if he chooses." 
And, turning on his heel he walked of^. 

Later in the afternoon Dr. Lesage came to see me, and 
I told him what had taken place. He said that he was 
not in the least surprised, and that he was thoroughly 
disgusted with the bigotry of all the people connected 
with the place. He then called the Sister, and told her 
to show him the register where the head surgeon had writ- 
ten out his orders concerning my case. After looking 
through it, he told me that, just as he had expected, the 
head surgeon had put me on ordinary rations, but that 
he was not going to have it ; and he immediately ordered 
that I should be put on a diet of chicken, eggs, and the 
like. He found my throat very bad, and said that I ought 
to have come to see him much sooner than I did. He also 
explained to me that he would give orders enabling me to 
get from outside whatever food I fancied, as well as 
books ; he promised too to come and see me on the follow- 
ing day. I took advantage of his permission to send the 
hospital orderly to fetch me a stock of eatables, books, 
and some newspapers. 

Our dinner was served at six o'clock, and I was much 
astonished when the Sister brought me a piece of beef 
which had been boiled to a rag to make soup. I reminded 
her that Dr. Lesage had put me on " fowl and egg 
diet." 

" I know it," she said, " but, as there is none to be had 
to-night, you will have to put up with what there is." 

I pointed out to her that rations of fowl had been served 
to at least six of the other patients. 

*' Well," she said, " the fact is, there is none left." 

Upon this I declared that, unless I had a portion imme- 
diately brought to me, I would forthwith send a letter to 
Dr. Lesage to explain how matters stood. 

173 



TROOPER 3809 

" Oh," she said, *' please don't trouble yourself, and I'll 
go to the kitchen, and see if there is some remaining." 

Ten minutes later she returned with the wing of a fowl, 
and when I had finished it she brought me an omelet. I 
mention this incident to show the gross partiality which is 
usually displayed by Sisters of Mercy in French hos- 
pitals. Most of the patients, who belong to the humbler 
classes, are afraid to complain, and I have constantly seen 
patients who make a display of deep religious zeal treated 
with the utmost attention, receiving the best of fare, while 
others who were lax in the practice of religion, or who 
had the misfortune to be Protestants, were given the com- 
monest food, even if the doctor had ordered special deli- 
cacies for them. The Sisters of Mercy have absolutely 
no training in nursing, and an English nurse, after a year's 
hospital work, is far more efficient than Sisters of Mercy 
who have spent years in the wards. I do not mean to say 
that there are not to be found among the Sisters touch- 
ing examples of disinterested devotion to their fellow- 
creatures, but, taking them as a class, their employment 
in hospitals is not calculated to benefit the patients, and 
they are far inferior to English trained nurses in educa- 
tion, manners, and skill. They have no fear of dismis- 
sal, as, in case of their failing to do their duty, they are 
merely removed to the headquarters of their order. It is 
true that it would be most difficult to replace them in 
French hospitals, as there exists in France no body of 
trained nurses like those in this country. The French 
lay nurses are almost invariably middle-aged women of 
the charwoman type, who have had no practical training, 
and are usually addicted to drink. In the largest hos- 
pitals the administration of drugs and the dressing of 
wounds devolves entirely on the medical students, and 
nurses, whether Sisters of Mercy or lay, merely stand 

174 



TROOPER 3809 

in the wards to watch the patients, and in case of need 
they have to go and summon a student. While I was in 
the hospital, I witnessed some shocking examples of the 
way in which sufferers were treated. I remember one 
night when a patient, who was suffering from a most 
serious attack of jaundice, cried out to the Sister on duty 
for a basin. The Sister, who was counting her beads and 
muttering prayers in a half-dozing state, merely lifted 
her eyes dreamily towards the patient, but took no notice. 
The poor fellow called her again and again, and, seeing 
how matters stood, I got out of bed, and, going to the 
Sister, called her attention to the patient. " Go to bed," 
she said to me : *' it is no business of yours. The female 
attendant has gone out ; it is her work, and not mine, to 
carry basins about." I thereupon went to fetch what was 
needed myself, and rendered what help I could to my sick 
comrade. Facts such as these help to explain why the 
poor in France have a greater dread of the hospital than 
many people have of the workhouse in England. 

It took me a few minutes to find a basin that night, and 
while I looked about I must have caught a chill, for the 
following day I had a relapse. I had been rather upset, 
too, by the death of the typhoid patient in the bed next 
to mine. His old mother came with his father that after- 
noon, and their distress was heart-rending to witness. 

*' They have taken my boy, they have killed him," the 
poor mother kept repeating; complaining bitterly that 
she had not been informed of his illness till too late. 

Two days later, early in the morning, as luck would 
have it, none other than Piatte was brought into the hos- 
pital ; he was carried on a stretcher, and carefully laid in 
the vacant bed next to mine. 

" You see, old chap," he said, " I would not leave my 
chum Decle, so here I am." 

175 



TROOPER 3809 

" What is the matter with you ? " I asked. 

" Oh, broken leg, that is all." 

The two cavalry and infantry doctors then arrived, and 
Piatte was questioned as to the way in which the accident 
occurred. 

" It's a beast of a charger that's kicked me in the 
stables," he told the doctor. 

He was carefully examined, and the doctors found that 
he had broken his leg below the knee. The limb was set, 
and although the poor fellow must have suffered dread- 
fully, beads of perspiration running down his face during 
the process, he did not utter a single complaint. Dr. 
Lesage remained near him after the others had retired, 
and told him that he would soon be all rip-ht. 

" Ah, that's nothing, sir," said Piatte ; ** but look here, 
sir, ril tell you what : if you would like to do me a great 
favour you would come and look after me yourself. Yoit 
can do anything you like to me, but I do not want that 
other infantry doctor to mess about with me." 

Dr. Lesage promised that he would attend him, and 
before retiring held out his hand to the injured man. This 
evidently went to the poor chap's heart, and his eyes mois- 
tened. 

'' Thank you, sir," he said ; " thank you. It is good of 
you to shake hands with me — a bad character as they make 
me out. If the officers were all like you, why I would 
jump into the fire for them — and mind you, sir, I won't 
forget it." 

Dr. Lesage retired, more moved than he liked to show. 
When he had gone, I asked Piatte how he felt. 

" A bit queer," he said ; " but you don't know, old 
chap, how well I worked it. I thought I had killed my- 
self, you know." 

" Weren't you kicked ? " I queried. 

176 



TROOPER 3809 

" Kicked," he said ; '' well, it wasn't a horse that kicked 
me. ril tell you how it all happened. When I got out 
of prison yesterday, I said to myself, I must have a spree, 
so, after ' Lights out,' I got over the wall. You see, 
my old granny had sent me another ten francs for the 
New Year, but, of course, being in prison, I only got 
my money when I came out, so then I jumped over the 
wall, and, my boy, I can tell you I had a grand booze. 
At two o'clock this morning I said to myself, ' It is time 
to go back.' So I got into the little lane at the back of 
our stable, you know. The wall there on the top side of 
the lane is only six feet high, so I easily got on top of it, 
but on the other side there is a drop of at least thirty feet, 
you know, alongside our stable. I had often done it, and 
it was only thirty yards along the wall to get to the back 
door of the barracks, where you can get down quite easy. 
But last night it had been raining, and freezing after- 
wards, so that the wall was that slippery that I had to 
walk on all fours to keep my balance. I was a bit on, 
I suppose, and I don't know how it happened, but just 
as I was getting near the end of the wall I slipped, and 
down I went. Oh, my boy, what a drop it was ! I came 
down flop, and when I tried to rise it was no go; one 
of my legs felt like cotton-wool. I knew that if I called 
for help I should be nabbed, so I crept on all fours as far 
as the room. I then went to wake up Titi ; he took off 
my clothes and laid me on my bed. By jove! didn't it 
hurt me. Titi says to me, ' Let me go and call for help, 
you can say that you have fallen down stairs.' But I say, 
' No, that's no go, and it won't wash.' So we arranged 
with Titi, that just before reveille he would take me down 
to the stables, which he did. By God, you don't know 
what it meant to go to the stables : I felt my heart in 
my mouth the whole way ; to come down the stairs I 

177 



TROOPER 3809 

sat down, and holding on to Titi's neck, I let myself slide, 
and then to cross the yard I tried to stand on my other 
. leg, but it was all numb ; so I sent Titi to fetch Monard, 
and between them they carried me to the stables and lay 
me behind your kicking mare, as she's known as a kicker. 
As soon as the others come down to clean the stables, I 
shout, ' Ah, murder, murder ! ' One of them goes and 
fetches the Sergeant, and I tell him how, passing behind 
your mare's heels, I got kicked. Titi, in the meantime, 
had gone to fetch me a stiff glass of brandy, as I felt 
pretty queer. The Sergeant then sent for a stretcher, and 
they carried me to the dispensary. When the doctor 
came I told him I had been kicked, and when he looks at 
my leg, he says : ' It's jolly funny that it should have got 
swollen up so quickly.' Of course I told him that I have 
got a queer constitution, and he says, ' Yes, a queer con- 
stitution indeed,' and then he tells the Corporal that I 
must be taken to the hospital at once, and he sends every- 
body out of the room, and he says to me : 

" ' It was not a horse that kicked you, eh, Piatte ? ' 

" * Well, sir,' I says, ' if you ask me, not as an officer, 
but as the gentleman that you are, I will tell you the 
truth.' 

" ' Go on,' he says, ' 'tis not as an officer that I am 
asking you.' 

" * Oh, then,' says I, * that mare, sir, that kicked me, 
'twas a paving-stone.' And I tell him the whole story, 
from beginning to end, and then he got very wild, and 
asked why I hadn't sent for him at once, and he also 
asked whether I supposed that he would give me 
away. 

" My boy," concluded Piatte, " he is a ripper, that 
man. 

" I remember one day — it was two years ago — I went to 

178 



TROOPER 3809 

the medical visit, and he says, ' What is the matter with 
you ? ' so I rephed, ' I rather tell you privately, sir,' and 
he says, ' Very well.' After the medical visit he calls 
me to his room. ' Well ? ' he says. I then told him what 
was the matter with me, and as it is the rule, you know, 
that men suffering with that complaint are punished with 
thirty days' confinement to barracks, I asked him if he 
would mind keeping it dark. ' Of course,' he said, and 
he sent me to the dispensary for a fortnight for rheuma- 
tism. Now don't you think that he was a brick ? " 

I quite agreed with him. This matter is one which has 
given rise to many discussions in Parliament, and in the 
English Press, especially with regard to the British troops 
in India. The French system appears to me one of the 
chief causes of depopulation in France, when one con- 
siders that nine-tenths of the male population have to pass 
through the ranks of the army. The fear of punishment 
prevents most soldiers from attending the medical visit 
when they suffer from complaints of this kind, and the 
consequence is that in most cases they wait until the dis- 
ease has made such progress that the doctors are unable to 
cope successfully with it. 

The day Piatte was brought to hospital the Roman 
Catholic chaplain came to see me. I told him exactly 
what my religious views were, but far from showing him- 
self offended, he showed me the utmost kindness, and 
asked me to go and visit him when I was able to leave my 
bed. I did so, and found him a most enlightened man. 
I frankly explained to him my views, and although we 
could not, of course, agree, our discussion was carried on 
in the most courteous terms, and he told me that although 
he regretted that he was unable to convince me, he should 
always be glad to see me, placing at the same time his 
fine library at my disposal. He was a man well versed 

179 



TROOPER 3809 

in science, and, although a fervent Catholic, did not con- 
sider those whose opinions differed from his as black 
sheep, and he had the utmost respect for sincere religion 
of every kind. 

I stopped a week longer in hospital, and felt rather 
glad of Piatte's companionship, as I had taken quite a 
liking for this poor fellow, who interested me. I asked 
him many a time why he did not give up drink, which 
meant his ruin. 

" Give up drink, old fellow," he invariably replied, 
" why should I ? It is the only thing which makes a man 
forget. Don't imagine that I was a drunkard before I 
came to the regiment ; but they've driven me to it. Dur- 
ing my first year's service I was keen on doing my best, 
and I hoped to be promoted to the rank of Corporal. I 
had got through the exams, all right, and had been actu- 
ally nominated for promotion after the manoeuvres we 
were in the thick of were over, when the crash came. 
One night, when three other troopers and myself had made 
ourselves comfortable in a barn full of straw, in comes 
a Corporal with a pipe in his mouth. Just then he hears 
a step outside, and suspecting that it is an officer, he shouts 
out: 

" ' Who's been smoking here ? Now look sharp — are 
you going to tell or not ? ' 

" I wasn't asleep, and I saw through his dirty trick in 
an instant. The other fellows were soon aroused, and 
confusedly asked what was the matter. The Corporal 
repeats his question, but of course there was no culprit 
to answer it. Then in comes the officer — for the Cor- 
poral's suspicion was right enough. 

'' ' Go anS fetch a lantern,' says he. 

" Off goes the Corporal and gets one. 

" Then the officer says : 

i8o 



TROOPER 3809 

'* * Someone has been smoking here, let the man come 
forward.' 

" Of course nobody moves because nobody has done it, 
for 'twas the Corporal all along. 

'' ' Very well,' the officer says ; ' let's have your num- 
bers,' and he tells the Corporal to put them down. 

** Mine was the highest as it happened, and on finding 
this out the officer says : 

*' * You put eight days' Salle de Police to that trooper.' 

" When the officer has gone I go out to the Corporal — 
he was a Hussar chap, and so was the officer — and I 
tell him that it's not right what he's done, and that he 
knows well enough that it's him that had been smoking, 
so he turns savage on me, and he says : 

*' ' You'll have two days more for insulting me.' 

" The next day I tell what's happened to my Lieu- 
tenant, and he says that he will speak to the Hussar officer ; 
but my Lieutenant comes back, and he says that the officer 
doesn't mind cancelling my punishment, but that the Cor- 
poral insists on letting his two days stand as they are, 
and that he won't cancel them. All that makes a shindy 
between the younger officers of our regiment and those 
of the Hussars, and the General hears of it, because two 
of them officers actually applied for leave to fight a duel. 
The General sends for me — he was just mad because dur- 
ing the past fortnight two other barns had been set on 
fire — and he tells me I am a scoundrel to have smoked 
in the barn ; but I tell him how things happened, and that 
'twas the Corporal himself who'd been smoking. The 
Colonel of the Hussars, who just happened to be coming 
for some report to the General, says : 

" * Ah, that's the swine who nearly set a barn on fire 
last night, and now he tries to take away the character of 
one of my Corporals ! ' 

i8i 



TROOPER 3809 

** This makes the General quite mad, and he gives me 
fifteen days' prison. Yes, old chap, fifteen days' prison, 
when I'd done nothing. It fairly turned my blood, and 
I went away hardly knowing what I was doing. I passed 
a pub and went in. I called for absinthe and brandy and 
the Lord knows what else. The more I drunk the more 
I wanted^ and I was that mad that when two Hussars 
walked into the pub I sprang on them, and if others hadn't 
come to their rescue 'twould have been a case of murder, 
I think. They had to tie me up, and by Gad it took eight 
of them to do it. To my first punishment, fifteen days' 
prison, and fifteen days' solitary confinement in cells, were 
added, and when, two days later, the manoeuvres ended, 
I was marched back to barracks — a prisoner. Of course 
any question of promotion was at an end — to think of it 
after I had worked so hard to become a Corporal ! When 

I came out of prison I no longer cared a b d 

what happened to me. I drank whenever I had money, 
and if I hadn't, Decle, my boy, I would have shot myself. 
How I have got through these last three years I don't 
know. They threatened more than once to send me to 
Biribi. What did I care? If it hadn't been for our late 
Colonel — he understood me, that man — I should have 
done something desperate ; but since he is dead — ah, mal- 
heur! The new Colonel calls me a disgrace to the regi- 
ment, and a disgrace to the French army : but what do I 
care? But then when a chap like our doctor doesn't feel 
ashamed to hold out his hand to me — well, my boy, it goes 
to my heart. You, too, old Decle, although we are both 
mere troopers, you are a gentleman, while I am but a 
labourer and a low blackguardly drunkard ; and yet you 
treat me as a friend. Give me your hand, old boy." 

I gave it to him, and he pressed it between his two 
enormous palms, and then, in a husky voice, he added, 

182 



TROOPER 3809 

" Ah ! it's long since I have felt so happy," and with 
the back of his hand he wiped off a tear. 

" Forgive me, old chap," he said, " I know I'm making 
a fool of myself ! " 

For answer I could only squeeze his hand, and I turned 
round to hide a tear of my own — a tear of pity for the 
poor fellow whose feelings I could now understand so 
well. 

During the long days we spent together Piatte delighted 

to speak of his home ; he belonged to the country, where 

he drove a diligence : he loved horses and animals, and he 

was still full of old and quaint superstitions. '' I was 

seventeen," he once said to me, *' when I drove a coach 

for the first time, and I shall never forget that night. I 

had never driven the coach except to bring it round from 

the stables to the inn, when one night the Governor orders 

the diligence to be got ready for a foreign gentleman who 

wanted to catch a train twenty miles from our place. All 

the other carriages were out, and the diligence alone was 

available. When Jean-Paul, the usual driver, hears of it 

he says that he will not drive it for all the money in the 

world, it being a Friday night in the month of January. 

' Why ? ' I asked him. He told me that at one place where 

the road meets the Strasbourg road there was a ghost 

which always came out from behind a tree when the 

diligence passed along at night on a Friday in January : 

' his grandfather, his father, and him too had seen it, and 

he did not want to see it no more.' I didn't believe much 

in ghosts, so I offered to drive, and my governor, to whom 

the coach belonged, let me go. The horses were fresh, 

the carriage light, and we were rattling along at a good 

pace when all of a sudden I see a woman dressed in white 

jump from behind a tree and stand in the middle of the 

road. ' Hi ! hi ! look out ! ' T shout, but she did not seem 

183 



TROOPER 3809 

to heed me, and before I could pull up the leaders were on 
her. They shied and reared, but there she rises between 
the two of them and seems to jump over the wheelers, and 
for a second or two she flitters in front of me like a huge 
bat. As I looked round I saw that we were just at the 
spot which Jean-Paul had told me was haunted. I felt 
my heart in my mouth, and lashing the horses put them 
at a gallop — and they didn't want no urging either ; but 
the ghost seemed to fly in the air alongside the coach for 
a distance of about a hundred yards, when she disappeared 
in a bush." 

I told Piatte that it was the effect of his imagination, 
but he was positive about it ; according to him the ghost 
had the face of a young girl with very dark hair, and 
was draped in white garments with a kind of hood over 
her head. 

Soon after his first adventure he became the regular 
driver of the diligence, the former driver having been 
upset with the coach and killed on the spot. During the 
year previous to his military service he had worked in 
some large engineering works, and he always swore to 
me that until he was first punished he had never been 
drunk, adding at the same time that during the fourteen 
months he had still to serve he meant to drink whenever 
he could get a chance. I thoroughly believe that if he 
had become a Corporal he would have been one of the 
best men in the regiment, and there is no doubt that it 
was the injustice with which he had been treated which 
led him to drink and degradation. 

At the end of ten days I left hospital, and, on my re- 
turn to barracks, was kept for three days in the dispensary 
as a convalescent. During the whole time I had been in 
hospital I had been unable to get a bath, and when I 
suggested taking one the doctor laughed at me, and the 

184 



TROOPER 3809 

Sisters considered me a kind of lunatic to want a bath 
when I had a sore throat. It was therefore with great 
rehef that, on my return to barracks, I was allowed by 
our doctor to go out to the town to have the wash of 
which I was naturally in great need. 



I8S 



CHAPTER XI 

At the end of January we passed our first examination. 
Each one of us had to command in turn the various kinds 
of drill we had been taught so far — viz. drill on foot with- 
out arms, carbine and sword drill, as well as mounted drill 
in the riding-school. We were also examined on hip- 
pology and the first principles of topography, and were 
questioned on that portion of the regulations which re- 
ferred to the duties of Corporals, and we were further 
examined as to our individual proficiency in Voltige and 
gymnastics. There was not a single one of us who hadn't 
received by that time a more complete military education 
than any of the Corporals in the regiment, but although 
troopers can, according to the regulations, be promoted 
to the rank of Corporal at the end of three months' ser- 
vice, none of us received any promotion. I was the fifth 
by marks out of the fourteen of us. After this examina- 
tion the order of our day's work was altered, and mounted 
drill, instead of taking place in the riding-school, was 
carried out on the manoeuvring ground, about three miles 
outside the town. This was a vast area of loose sand, a 
certain portion of which was prepared for different exer- 
cises. There were jumps too of various kinds, but none 
of them above three feet high. The most peculiar ar- 
rangement was what we call the " crater," a huge hole 
about thirty yards in diameter, and from ten to twelve 
feet in depth, shaped like a crater, and tapering at the 
bottom. There was also a narrow defile some hundred 

i86 



TROOPER 3809 

feet long, just broad enough to allow the passage of four 
riders abreast. For the present, however, no use was 
made of these obstacles, but we went on drilling as we 
had done in the riding-school. Squares were marked 
out with huge poles, and we rode in Indian file around 
them. Half-an-hour before the time fixed for mounted 
drill four of us were sent out under the command of a 
Corporal to mark the squares. We were all very keen to 
be selected for this work, for having to carry the poles 
we were allowed to ride with stirrups, and when we had 
marked the squares, we always had ten minutes or a 
quarter of an hour to spare, during which time we used 
to jump our horses and canter round the manoeuvring 
ground. We also began mounted drill with arms — viz. 
carbine and sword. In my time swords were not fixed to 
the saddle as they are now, and we invariably carried 
our carbines slung over our backs, the boot never being 
used. Most cavalry officers considered the carrying of 
the carbine in the boot a most dangerous plan, likely to 
break the trooper's leg in case of a fall. The carrying 
of the carbine across the back, on the other hand, was a 
most cruel torture, especially as we were never allowed 
to use our stirrups. The French cavalry carbines are 
much heavier and longer than those in use in the English 
cavalry. (We had, of course, the Gras pattern in my 
time.) On Saturdays, besides undergoing the weekly 
inspection, we had to prepare a number of horses for the 
infantry officers. The Captains in command of infantry 
companies being mounted, Lieutenants and sub-lieuten- 
ants had to be taught riding, and few of them had any 
idea of what riding a horse meant, their only knowledge 
of such animals being derived from seeing them in the 
streets. Of course the Sergeants who had drawn up the 
lists of the horses to be used by the infantry officers took 

187 



TROOPER 3809 

a secret pleasure in selecting the hardest trotters as well 
as the most vicious chargers in each squadron, so that 
my little mare was invariably chosen. The costumes 
donned by the infantry officers for this riding lesson were 
rather peculiar. Most of them wore patent leather gaiters 
over their trousers, while a few appeared in tightly-fit- 
ting grey breeches. As we brought our chargers to them 
the timid learners always carefully inquired about the 
special vice of each. 

I well remember the appearance one day of a young 
infantry Lieutenant putting any amount of *' side " on, 
and adorned by a resplendent pair of patent leather top- 
boots. 

" I say, Dragoon," he said quietly, slipping a two-franc 
piece into my hand, " that looks rather a nice little horse 
your're holding there." 

" It isn't a horse, sir," I replied. 

He looked much astonished, and said : " What ! You 
don't call it a mule, I suppose? " 

*' No, sir," I replied ; " I call it a mare." 

" Oh — ah — yes ! " he said. '' A mare, of course. Fact 
is, I'd hardly looked at her. Is she lively ? " he added. 
" I don't like a beast with the paces of a donkey ! " 

" Yes, sir,'" I said ; " you'll find her quite lively 
enough." 

" But she's not vicious — not vicious ? " he asked anx- 
iously. 

" Vice ! " I replied. " She doesn't know what vice 
means. She likes to show off a bit, that's all." 

*' Just what I like," said the Lieutenant. He asked me 
to get on her back, and after I had made her prance about 
a bit, I dropped the reins on her neck, and pulling a bit 
of sugar from my pocket I made her turn her head to 
eat it from my hand — a trick I had taught her. 

i88 



TROOPER 3809 

"What a jolly little beast! " said the Lieutenant, as I 
dismounted ; " mind," he added, '' that you do not let 
anybody else ride her." *' No fear, sir," I answered, upon 
which he tipped me another franc. I was careful to bring 
the mare last of all into the riding-school, having pur- 
posely put the stirrup-straps three holes too long for my 
man. The Lieutenant walked up to me. He looked at 
the girths as if he knew everything about a saddle, and 
then measured the stirrups, asking me if I thought they 
were right. '' It's not for me, sir," I replied, " to presume 
to advise a gentleman like you, who probably has horses 
of his own." *' Of course — of course," he replied, highly 
flattered. " I should say you're a rare un with horses," 
I again said. " How do you know ? " he asked proudly. 
*' I can tell a gentleman when I see one," I answered. 
*' Just so," he went on patronisingly. " I suppose you've 
been in good houses before?" "That's just it, sir," I 
innocently replied. Just then our Capitainc Instructciir,< 
v/ho gave the lesson to the infantry oflicers, rode into the 
riding-school and ordered the officers to mount. We had 
to hold our charger's head and the off-stirrup, and the 
Lieutenant having got on to the mare remarked that the 
stirrups were rather long. "How many holes, sir?" 
" Just shorten those two holes," he said. Purposely I went 
on slowly shortening one of the stirrups, holding the 
mare's head at the same time, and, as I fully expected, be- 
fore I had time to touch the second stirrup our Captain 
commanded the Lieutenants to fall in, and I let go at 
once the mare's head, and she began to prance about. Her 
rider, who knew nothing of riding, foolishly pulled on the 
bit and pressed his legs to keep his equilibrium. My mare, 
greatly resenting such treatment, darted forward into the 
middle of the riding-school, plunging and rearing. In a 
second or two the officer was landed on the ground, while 

189 



TROOPER 3809 

our Captain coolly asked him what he was doing there? 
He replied that it all had happened because his stirrups 
were not right. In the meantime I had rushed to catch 
the mare, and as the Lieutenant came to remount, our 
Captain told me to put the stirrups to their proper length. 
While I was doing so the poor young Lieutenant whis- 
pered to me : '' Mais c'est une bete terrible que cet 
animal." * I advised him not to use the curb, and not to 
touch her with his heels^ as she did not like it. *' It is 
very difficult not to use the heels," he replied, with dis- 
may, '' I wish I had never seen that beast." 

The poor fellow knew even less about riding than I had 
thought, and I soon regretted having recommended him to 
take my mare, as twice more she landed him in the mid- 
dle of the school, and ultimately the Captain commanding 
the lesson made him change horses with one of his col- 
leagues. 

To return to our own work. Shortly after we had 
started drilling on the manoeuvring ground we began to 
drill by pclotons on foot. The cavalry drill on foot is 
essentially different from the infantry drill, as all the 
movements are performed in the same way as the mounted 
drill ; for instance, the troopers being dressed on two 
ranks, to break off by fours they swing on a pivot as if 
they were mounted, and the drill on foot is, indeed, es- 
pecially intended as a preparation for the mounted drill. 
Our work in the field, however, consisted of two distinct 
roles : we had to act as cavalry and at the same time as 
mounted infantry, although we were absolutely unfit for 
the latter work. I have often discussed with French 
officers the question why mounted infantry have never 
been tried in France, but all the French officers seem to 
believe them to be practically useless. They point out 

* It is a terrible beast, this animal. 
190 



TROOPER 3809 

that all the French cavalry being drilled and armed in 
such a way as to be able to act as mounted infantry, there 
is no necessity for the latter. This is all very well in 
theory, but it is out of the question in practice. All the 
trooper is fit for when dismounted is to defend himself, 
but the moment he is sent forward on foot, his heavy, 
cumbersome trousers, his boots with spurs nailed on to 
them, and fitting as loosely as they always do, are a ter- 
rible burden to him. More than once when we were sent 
out as sharpshooters through heavy ground, we had not 
gone 200 yards before our boots came off our feet ; in this 
respect it m.ay therefore be safely said that, whatever their 
other qualities may be, the French are very inferior to the 
English or German cavalry. 

Too much time is w^asted in educating the troopers to 
drill on foot, and nothing is done to develop individual 
initiative in the field. There were not ten of the troopers 
in my regiment who could have been trusted alone as 
scouts, and even among the Volontaircs, men who had 
all received a good education, not one half of them at the 
end of the year's training thoroughly understood the use 
of a map, and with the exception of Delbruck and myself 
not one could have made a sketch-plan, however rough, of 
the ground we had been over. Another of the great mis- 
takes made throughout the whole of the French army is 
the tendency to overburden soldiers as well as horses. 
Cavalry horses have to carry in the field a kit which, 
including the rider, amounts to an average of 22 stone, 
in the light cavalry the kit is, it is true, a little lighter, but 
there is hardly a stone and a half difference. The light 
cavalry horses are small, few of them being over 15 hands, 
while many are under. In the heavy cavalry there is 
hardly a horse standing 16 hands high, and the average 
size ranges between 15.1 and 15.2. In the infantry, sol- 

191 



TROOPER 3809 

diers have to carry in the field, cartridges included, an 
average of over 80 lbs. During the Madagascar war 
this enormous burden was not even reduced, and natu- 
rally 50 per cent, of the men died within five months of 
the beginning of the campaign. Another great fault of 
the French system is that too much is expected of the 
troopers, instead of their being regarded exclusively as 
mounted men. 

Their uniform is not only grotesque, but is quite unsuit- 
able for riding. I have often heard it said that the intro- 
duction of top-boots and breeches would entail too heavy 
an expenditure — but the Germans have them, and their 
cavalry is not inferior in numbers to the French. But 
this is a digression. 

Our Sergeant Legros was as great a bully as ever ; 
Volontaires were constantly being punished, and never a 
week elapsed without my being sent to the Salic de Police ; 
in fact, Legros got so accustomed to punishing me that 
many a time he used to say to me in the morning, " I am 
in a bad temper to-day, and you'll get two days' Salic 
de Police — you'll find out why later on." At other times 
he used to tell us that he meant to stick four of the Volon- 
faires in the lock-up that day, and, true to his word, he 
always found some cause for punishing exactly four of 
us during the day. I had become so used to punishment 
by that time that it had grown quite indifferent to me, 
and I became a mere dare-devil. 

One day having been sent to the lock-up a I'ocil, I found 
that the Sergeant of the Guard was my friend de Lanoy, 
and he told me that I could go and sleep in my own bed. 
As my punishment had not been reported, he ran no risk, 
but unfortunately for me that night I made a fool of 
myself. Titi, whom I had told that de Lanoy had ex- 
cused me from sleeping in the Salle de Police, came to 

192 



TROOPER 3809 

tell me a long story of how his brother had come to see him 
on most important business, and how he could not get 
leave to go out to him, adding that he was sure I would 
help him. I told him that I would willingly do so if I 
could, and he then unfolded his plan to me. " You see," 
he went on, " when the Sergeant of the Week comes for 
the roll-call at eight o'clock, the Corporal will report you 
as being in the Salle de Police, but what you will really 
do will be to get into my bed and cover your head well 
up, so that your face can't be seen, and then they will think 
that it is me. In the meantime I shall have got out, 
letting myself down from the window into the street with 
my forage rope." Foolishly enough, I agreed to the plan. 
At a quarter to eight Piatte, who had long left the hos- 
pital, helped me to let Titi down through the window, and 
as soon as he had landed safely in the street I went and 
wrapped myself up in Titi's bed. Piatte, I must say, tried 
to dissuade me, but having promised Titi, I said I would 
certainly keep rny word. I covered up my head, and soon 
after, the Sergeant of the Week walked round the room 
to make the evening call. When he passed in front of my 
bed he walked straight up to me and pulled the blankets 
off. " What are you doing here? " he cried. " Sergeant," 
I replied, " Sergeant de Lanoy has allowed me to sleep 
here instead of in the lock-up." " And this is why," he 
said, '' you sleep in another man's bed, after you have 
helped him to get out through the window. You will have 
four days' Salle de Police. And now," he added, " off you 
go to the cells." The Sergeant was a new one who had 
exchanged into the regiment a few days previously, so he 
was a stranger to me, and though immediately after the 
call I rushed after him, he had already walked into the 
Sergeant-major's office and reported the matter to him. 
When he came out I asked him to cancel my punishment, 

^93 



TROOPER 3809 

not so much for my sake, as for de Lanoy's, who might be 
severely punished for having excused me from sleeping in 
the cells. The Sergeant expressed his regret, but told me 
it was too late, as he had already reported the matter to 
the Sergeant-major, adding that he was absolutely uncon- 
scious that by so doing he might bring one of his comrades 
into trouble. I advised him to go and see Sergeant Legros 
at once, in order to urge him not to lodge a complaint 
against de Lanoy, adding that I wished to take the whole 
blame upon myself. 

I was very glad to find the following day that de Lanoy 
had not been embroiled in the business. I did not fare 
so well. The four days the Sergeant had given me were 
altered to eight by our Captain, and the Colonel added 
four more to the total, so that I had twelve days in all. 
I can honestly say that this was the only punishment I 
fully deserved among all those which were bestowed on 
me. Titi also got fifteen days, so that we were once more 
companions in misfortune. It was during that time that 
our Sergeant-major suddenly altered his behaviour tow- 
ards me. I had been about three days in the lock-up 
when one afternoon he called me into his office and locked 
the door. He looked much embarrassed, but asked me to 
sit down, and offered me a cigarette and a glass of beer. 
This seemed a very extraordinary proceeding on his part, 
but I accepted the proffered hospitality and waited for 
him to open the conversation. " I am sorry, Decle," he 
said, '' that you should have been once more punished, 
but I'll try to make your punishment as light as possible, 
and I have already given instructions that you are not to 
sleep in the Salle to-night, as I am acting Adjudant to- 
day." I thanked him, and silence followed. " By the 
way," he said, '' I have also sent for you to ask your ad- 
vice. You are a gentleman and a man of the world, and 

194 



TROOPER 3809 

I want some information, but before I consult you I want 
your word of honour that you will not mention to a living 
soul what I am going to tell you." I assured him that he 
could make his mind easy on this point and reckon on my 
silence. "Well, it is just this," he began: "I am in a 
fix, and I want to borrow five hundred francs (£20), and 
unless I get the money within a fortnight I shall be a dis- 
graced man. You know how strict the Colonel is, and 
how severely he punishes non-commissioned officers who 
are in debt. Now don't you know a Jew who would lend 
me the money ? " 

I replied that I was not acquainted w^ith money-lenders, 
but that in any case I was quite certain that none of the 
fraternity would advance him the money vmless he could 
give some substantial security. " I could give my pay," 
he replied; "wouldn't that be sufficient security?" I 
fairly laughed in his face. " Your pay," I said ; " why, 
it does not amount to twenty pounds a year ; that would 
be no security at all." The man must have been in a fix 
indeed, for he grew pale and trembled visibly. Once 
more he told me that unless he had the money his creditor 
would apply to the Colonel, and that would mean the 
ruin of his military career. " I tell you what," I then 
said ; " why should you go to money-lenders ? Let me 
lend you the money, and you can repay me whenever you 
like." He protested that he could not possibly accept 
money from me, but I assured him that I could well af- 
ford it, and at last he said that he accepted my offer, but 
that he did not know how to express his gratitude. I 
knew^ perfectly well that from the outset he had meant 
to get the money out of me, but I was not going to let 
him off so easily as he imagined. I therefore told him 
that although I would be very glad to let him have the 
money, I could not give it to him in a lump sum, as my 

195 



TROOPER 3809 

allowance was only paid to me monthly, and I added that 
my money being in Paris, I should have to go there to 
fetch it, and that having eleven more days' Salle dc Police 
to undergo, I should have to wait until I had finished my 
punishment, and until I got leave. " Oh," he replied, 
" I will arrange that for you. To-day is Monday, and 
Pll see that your punishment is put down as finishing on 
Saturday morning, and then Pll give you leave to go to 
Paris from Saturday night till Monday night. You see,'' 
he went on, " I am acting as Adjudant during the whole 
of this week, and I need not report you missing, so no- 
body will be the wiser." 

I thanked him, but he replied most courteously that it 
was from himself that the thanks were due, and he added 
that he was very sorry he had hitherto misunderstood 
me, but that in future he would be delighted to do any- 
thing he could on my behalf. I retired, feeling much 
pleased with myself, as I knew that in future I should 
have a devoted friend in my Sergeant-major, whose 
power was far greater than that of any of the officers 
of our squadron. For instance, no officer, with the ex- 
ception of the Captain commanding the squadron, would 
dare take upon himself to grant a trooper twenty-four 
hours' leave sub rosa, while the Sergeant-major could 
do this easily, merely by not reporting the trooper as 
missing from the calls, and even should an officer inquire 
where the trooper was, the Sergeant-major could always 
reply that he had given the man leave not to attend the 
" stables," which he was entitled to do ; moreover, as no 
officer was ever present at the night-call, the Sergeant- 
major could deal with that roll exactly as he liked. On 
the Saturday my Sergeant-major kept his promise, and 
told me to get dressed immediately after " stables." He 
advised me, however, to go to my rooms in the town to 

196 



TROOPER 3809 

change my uniform for civilian clothes, as that week the 
platoon at the station was supplied by the infantry. I 
should explain here that soldiers on leave who are al- 
lowed to leave their garrison town are supplied with a 
paper stating that they are permitted to go to a specified 
place outside the garrison. In order to prevent soldiers 
leaving the garrison without leave, a non-commissioned 
officer is sent every Saturday and Sunday to the railway- 
station, and makes the soldiers show him their written 
leave before they are allowed to take their ticket. 

When I was dressed to go out my Sergeant-major ac- 
companied me as far as the hotel, and we had a chat 
while I w^as changing my clothes. He told me inci- 
dentally that he had re-enlisted one year before, and that 
he hoped to be sent to the school of Saumur within the 
next two years, which would enable him to become an 
officer in three years' time, and he again insisted on the 
fact that if the Colonel found out that he was in debt he 
would lose all chance of going to Saumur, and might even 
be reduced to the rank of ordinary Sergeant. 

I promised faithfully that I would bring back at least 
100 francs from Paris, and I then jumped into a brough- 
am and ordered the blinds to be carefully drawn down, 
as the fact of being seen in civilian attire would have 
meant imprisonment at least. In order to avoid meet- 
ing any of my officers, I had timed myself to go by a 
slow train ; but before I got out of the carriage I care- 
fully peeped round, and did not get out until I had made 
certain there were no cavalry officers about. The traffic 
superintendent was a personal friend of my family, and 
he had given me a card specially recommending me to all 
the stationmasters of the line, and allowing me to use 
any train I chose, even goods trains. Privates are not as 
a rule allowed to ride in first-class carriages, and non- 
197 



TROOPER 3809 

commissioned officers are also debarred from this priv- 
ilege, so that the traffic superintendent's card was doubly 
useful to me, enabling me as it did to travel by express 
trains which only contained first-class carriages. Upon 
entering the station the stationmaster allowed me to stop 
in his office until the last minute, and sent for my ticket, 
thus reducing the chances of detection to a minimum. I 
reached Paris safely, and when I returned the next even- 
ing my Sergeant-major was waiting for me at the hotel, 
in order to take me back into barracks without my name 
being taken down by the Sergeant of the Guard, who 
has to report the names of all troopers who come in after 
evening call, the exact time at which they return being 
entered against their names. I told my Sergeant-major 
that I had been able to get loo francs only, but that I 
would get a further sum if I went to Paris the follow- 
ing Sunday. He thanked me profusely, and told me that 
he would arrange that I should go to Paris on the fol- 
lowing Saturday. It soon became an understood thing 
that when I wanted to go to Paris without leave, I 
was to ask him to arrange it for me, while on my return 
I duly handed him from fifty to a hundred francs. Be- 
fore my first year's service was over the Sergeant-major 
had been enabled to repay considerably more than twenty 
pounds he owed to his obdurate creditor, but he still 
maintained the fiction, and whenever I handed him over 
the price of my journey to Paris, he thanked me warmly, 
invariably adding, " Ah ! I am so glad, I shall be able to 
take that to my creditors to-morrow ! " In this way the 
Sergeant certainly received between fifty and sixty 
pounds from me in all. 



198 



CHAPTER XII 

Although my Serg-eant-majorhad altered his behaviour 
towards me, he could only help me in the squadron, hav- 
ing no power over the Vol onto. ires, who were under the 
absolute command of Sergeant Legros. Captain Her- 
mann, who was nominally our chief, and who was sup- 
posed to give us lectures twice a week, never took the 
trouble to do so, and we scarcely ever saw him for more 
than a few minutes at a time. He left, in fact, the whole 
of our instruction in Legros's hands, and the latter's 
powers seemed to become greater every week. 

Hitherto, whenever we had wanted to apply for leave 
we used to send our application through the usual chan- 
nel, handing it over to our Sergeant-major, wdio trans- 
mitted it to the Captain ; but the Colonel issued a regi- 
mental order to the effect that in future any Volontaire 
wishing to get leave would have to apply for it through 
Sergeant Legros. Our Captain also strictly forbade us 
to apply for ten o'clock or midnight leave from the officer 
of the week (to whom all such demands were made by 
the other troopers), and told us that in future we should 
have to apply on the Saturday to Sergeant Legros for any 
leave we might wish to obtain. He added that any Vol- 
ontaire who applied for leave to the Lieutenant of his 
company, or to the Sergeant-major, would be punished 
with eight days' Salle de Police for having done so. It 
is needless to say that I never obtained a single day's 
regular leave after that ; but I cared little, as my Ser- 

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TROOPER 3809 

geant-major had become so friendly to me that he used 
to give me whatever leave I wanted. 

It was about this time that I met with rather a serious 
accident. I was leading my mare and two other chargers 
to the watering-tank, when one of the chargers was bit- 
ten by the other, and rearing straight up in the air, came 
down on my mare, who fell down on the top of me. I 
was much bruised and nearly stunned, but fortunately, 
no bones were broken. I was led to the dispensary, and, 
after examining me, the doctor ordered that I should be 
detained there. I have already explained that there was 
a ward in the place where sick troopers who were not 
ill enough to be sent to hospital were placed under medi- 
cal treatment. The ward contained twelve beds, and ad- 
joining it were two rooms for non-commissioned officers. 
The beds were of the usual military type, and the sick 
troopers were only allowed the ordinary rations: those 
who could afiford it, however, being at liberty to send for 
extra food from the canteen. There were no nurses at- 
tached to the dispensary, and it was superintended by a 
Corporal assisted by one trooper. I confess that I far 
preferred being there to going to the hospital. During 
the ten days I passed in the dispensary I made great 
friends with the Sergeant, who was himself sick. He 
had enlisted before his time for conscription was due, and 
his aim was to work his way up to a commission from 
the ranks ; but although he had served already three years, 
he was thoroughly disgusted with military service, and 
had made up his mind to leave it at the end of his five 
years' engagement. He explained to me that he stood 
absolutely no chance of being sent to the Saumur school, 
as only three Sergeants were selected every year, and, 
although he had passed the examination some time pre- 
viously, he was only fourth on the list. He ought by 

200 



TROOPER 3809 

rights to have been the second, but the two candidates 
who were classed second and third had taken that rank 
through their fathers' influence, one of them being the 
son of an ex-Minister of State and the other of an in- 
fluential Senator. The Sergeant had but one more 
chance, and he felt sure that another job would be per- 
petrated, as among the next candidates stood the Colonel's 
nephew and two sons of Generals. He added that his 
only chance would be to re-enlist for another five years, 
but he was not inclined to do this. He was a thorough 
gentleman, and had had an excellent education, and he 
naturally hated the life he led among ignorant comrades 
— men who had no idea of common decency, and who 
were addicted to the grossest immorality.* 

As Volontaircs had only to serve for one year instead 
of for the five during which the other troopers had to be 
imder the flag, military instruction had to be carried out 
a good deal more rapidly than in the case of the ordinary 
recruits. As soon, therefore, as we had become pro- 
ficient in the use of our arms on horseback, and showed 
that we understood thoroughly drilling on foot by pelo- 
ton, we were put through mounted drill by peloton. We 
were taught to walk, trot, and gallop in two ranks, to 

* The picture he drew of the average Sergeant was not an inviting 
one, but all he told me was quite in accord with the description given 
in a book published later on — " Sous-Offs, " by Lucien Descares. This 
book was written by a Volontaire who had served at Evreux in the Due 
de Chartres' regiment, both under the Duke himself and under the 
Colonel who had replaced the former when he was expelled from the 
French army. The latter officer was so furious with the work when it 
appeared that he ordered it to be burnt on a dung-hill, and promised 
thirty days in prison to any trooper found reading it. The book presents 
a vivid picture of the life of sergeants in a cavalry regiment ; but to 
appreciate it the reader must have served in the French army himself, as 
it teems with military slang ; I may add that the details given are so 
gross that its pages cannot be perused without disgust. 

20I 



TROOPER 3809 

wheel to the right and to the left, to break off by fours 
and by twos, and then to form again into line, each one 
of us having to act in turn as commander of the com- 
pany. At first we had to execute all these movements 
without stirrups, and a good deal of time was also devoted 
to the improvement of our riding capacities. In this 
respect our instruction was first-rate. We were first 
taken over jumps singly, being taught to trot our chargers 
until we got within twelve to fifteen feet of the jump, 
when we had to let go the reins and get over the jump 
with our hands behind our backs. We also had to do 
the same with drawn swords, and without holding the 
reins, the same movements being repeated with the car- 
bine held on the leg. Then we had to repeat the exer- 
cises by twos and by fours, and after some time we were 
taken over the jumps in two ranks. We were also taught 
to pass through the defile, a most difficult manoeuvre. 

In order to complete the regulation number of thirty 
troopers which form a peloton, some old troopers were 
added to our ranks. We were then started at a gallop, 
wheeled round, and brought in front of the defile. This, 
as I explained before, consisted of a narrow lane between 
two high hurdles, and was just broad enough to allow 
four troopers to ride abreast. When we got within 
twenty yards of the defile, we had to form fours, and the 
moment we had gone through it we had to form once 
more in line. The passage through the crater at full 
gallop was also a most exciting exercise. The two troop- 
ers riding in the centre of the line had to pass down the 
bottom of the crater while the others rode on the slope ; 
the centre of the front had to increase his pace so as to 
keep our lines perfectly straight, and as we came out of 
the crater our two lines had to be unbroken. 

I was much astonished at the manner in which we were 

202 



TROOPER 3809 

taught to charge. Instead of charging in serried ranks, 
the moment the command *' Charge ! " was given, every 
trooper had to force his horse forward as hard as he 
could go, without troubhng to keep in hne ; in fact, it 
resembled a race rather than the onset of a compact mass. 
The troopers of the front rank charged with the points 
of their swords held forward, while those of the second 
rank held their swords high up, ready to cut down their 
men, and as soon as the command had been given every 
trooper had to shout at the top of his voice three times, 
'' Charge ! Charge ! Charge ! " This, with the clatter- 
ing of the scabbards against our spurs, drove the chargers 
to the highest pitch of excitement, and every one of them 
went for all he was worth. We were also taught to 
charge in serried ranks, but it was explained to us that 
in case of war this mode of charging would hardly ever 
be used, as it would enable modern artillery to destroy 
whole regiments before they had been able to reach the 
enemy. The charge over the bugle sounded " Assem- 
bly " (Ralliciuent), and at this command we had to re- 
form our line. 

At the beginning of April we underwent a second ex- 
amination before a board consisting of the Captain and 
the Commander of the Volontaircs, the Capitaine In- 
striictciir, and one of the Majors. The three Volontaires 
who obtained the first places were nominated Corporals 
after the examination. One of them certainly fully de- 
served his promotion, but the two others only obtained 
it through interest; one of them in particular, who is 
now Due de * * * *^ ought by rights to have been 
classed among the two last, but his family was able to 
put great pressure on our Colonel, and one of our Lieu- 
tenants who was his first cousin helped him to obtain a 
place on the list to which he was in no way entitled. The 

203 



TROOPER 3800 

same thing happens in the case of the promotion of offi- 
cers in France, and in some cases undeserved favour is 
shown in an absolutely shameful way. I am well aware 
that in all countries of the world family interest goes a 
long way — in this country it is hard to get on without it 
— but at least it may be said that the recipients of special 
favours have always something to show to their credit, 
while this is far from being the case under the French 
Republic. 

After we had passed our half-yearly examination we 
began our duty as trained soldiers in earnest, and be- 
sides company drill we were taken to the shooting-range 
once a week, one day being also devoted to service in the 
field. Our shooting, I confess, was very poor, but this 
was chiefly due to the bad sighting of our carbines, none 
of which were true. They were theoretically sighted up 
to a thousand yards, but could not be relied on above 
three hundred. The range was in the middle of the 
forest, in an opening among stately trees, and the target 
stood at the foot of a small hill. While firing was going 
on two of us were sent to patrol the approaches on each 
side of the targets, as quite a number of poor people 
used, at the risk of their lives, to lurk behind the targets 
in order to pick up the bullets. The patrols had strict 
orders to prevent any one from approaching within two 
hundred yards of the butts, and we had to keep a very 
sharp look-out, for these bullet-collectors were up to 
many dodges to evade us. All of a sudden, for instance, 
a couple of them showed themselves on the road leading 
to the open space between the troopers and the target, 
and although we shouted hard to warn them off, they pre- 
tended to be deaf and not to hear us. We had, of course, 
therefore, to gallop towards them, and as we came up to 
them they pretended to be wood-gatherers on their way 

204 



TROOPER 3809 

home. Meanwhile, half-a-dozen others had crawled un- 
der the bushes a couple of hundred yards behind the tar- 
gets, and we had thus to start off once more at full gallop 
to clear the place of the new intruders, as the shooting 
had to be interrupted the moment they came in view. It 
was for that reason that the best riders, mounted on the 
fastest chargers, were usually selected for this patrol 
work, and I usually managed to be sent out. I thor- 
oughly enjoyed the work, as it gave me the chance of a 
good gallop over rough ground, and more than once we 
had quite exciting chases across country after the most 
obdurate of the law-breakers. I say " we," as after a 
short time it became necessary to post two troopers on 
each side of the targets, this decision having been come 
to on account of an accident which happened while the 
infantry were practising. An old woman had managed 
to creep, unseen by the sentry, right across the line of 
fire, and just then a volley was fired and she received two 
bullets in her body. 

I cannot speak at all highly of the way in which we 
were taught field service. We were supposed to learn 
how to direct ourselves, how to reach a specified point 
with the help of a map, and how to report on the country 
we had been across. The explanations given to us by 
our Sergeant showed that he knew very little about the 
subject himself, and I am certain that none of us ever 
understood a word of his explanations. I was perhaps 
the only trooper who knew anything technically about 
topography, having begun at a very early age to go in 
for mountain-climbing; and as this became a regular 
hobby with me I had studied map-making, and had learnt 
not only to read the smallest details of the map, but also 
to find my way among the greatest difficulties, a detailed 
map representing to me not only the roads, but also the 

205 



TROOPER 3809 

whole contour of the country, and the nature of its sur- 
face. During the few years preceding my service I had 
also explored the French Alps, forming the frontier be- 
tween France and Italy, of which no map had then been 
published, and I had never failed to make rough surveys 
and triangulations with the help of the prismatic com- 
pass, an instrument of which I suppose our Sergeant had 
never even heard. It was a great pity that we were 
never accompanied by an officer on these field days ; but 
I do not remember our Captain turning up more than 
once during the three months this part of our education 
lasted. We were also taught, after a fashion, how to 
take to pieces and to lay down a railway line, and two 
or three times we were shown how to use dynamite. 

Such was our work during April and May; it could 
certainly have been made most interesting but for the 
terror we always stood in of being punished. So far as 
I was concerned, I do not remember a fortnight elapsing 
without my being sent to the Salle de Police, usually for 
the most absurd reasons. Another great mistake which 
was committed was that of never allowing us any per- 
sonal initiative; and we did not even dare to ask for any 
explanations. One or two of the Volontaires having 
ventured to do so met with a rebuff, accompanied by a 
punishment. 

Shortly after the half-yearly examination we were also 
told off to take the guard according to the roll in our 
different squadrons. As our regiment had only the bar- 
rack guard to supply, an individual trooper's turn only 
came about once a month. Ordinary troopers were al- 
lowed to get a comrade to take their turn for them, but 
the Colonel issued an order to the effect that no Volon- 
taire would be allowed to be replaced when his turn for 
taking the guard came round. The troopers told off to 

206 



TROOPER 3809 

take the barrack guard numbered six, besides a trum- 
peter and two stable guards, and were commanded by a 
. Sergeant and a Corporal — all of them selected from the 
same squadron. Besides these troopers, two stable 
guards from each one of the other squadrons had to be 
supplied at a few minutes before 8 a.m. The troopers 
nominated for guard duty met in the yard at some dis- 
tance from the guard-room, and the Sergeant in com- 
mand carefully examined each man to ascertain that his 
equipment was in good order. The officer of the week 
of the squadron who supplied the guard also inspects the 
troopers' equipment, and the Adjudant of the Week stands 
by, and at eight o'clock sharp marches the in-coming 
guard past the Captain of the Week, halting the men in 
front of the guard-room. He then gives the word, 
*' Front ! " and a fresh inspection of each trooper is made 
by the Captain of the Week. At the same time the out- 
going guard has been formed up by a Sergeant, and is 
marched away under the orders of the outgoing Ser- 
geant, who soon dismisses his men, and returns with the 
Corporal to hand the service over to the Sergeant who 
replaces him. He has also to make his report to the Cap- 
tain of the Week, or to the Adjudant in the absence of 
the former. The sentries are then relieved by the in- 
coming Corporal and sent back to their rooms. All the 
troopers who have been on guard the previous day are 
excused from duty for four-and-twenty hours. The first 
time I took the guard, the Captain of the Week was an 
old Captain who was a perfect disgrace to the regiment. 
He was constantly drunk, and while at one time he would 
abuse the troopers in the vilest fashion, at another he 
would display a familiarity which was most embarrass- 
ing. That morning, being in one of his furious mood?, 
he found something to say about the equipment of every 

207 



TROOPER 3809 

one of us, called us a set of dirty pigs, and told our Ser- 
geant that he was a worse pig than any of us. 

" When I was a youngster," he added, '' things were 
different. Then we had soldiers — then we had an Em- 
peror; but now that is the lot of swine one has to com- 
mand," pointing to us. '' Look here," he went on, '' they 
have given me the Legion of Honor, but I am ashamed 
of it ; and you see," pointing to the decoration on his 

breast, ''their d Republic; I've put the head the 

other way, so that it should not be seen ! " 

He then ordered the Adjiidant to dismiss us. He 
walked into the guard-room, where a wooden camp-bed, 
similar to the one in the Salic dc Police, occupied the 
whole length of the room, wdiile a few forms, on which 
we could sit, were scattered about. In a tiny recess ad- 
joining this room was a table. This was the portion of 
the guard-room reserved for the Sergeant. We only had 
to supply two sentries, one in front of the barrack gate 
and the other near the entrance of the forage-store in a 
small side-street some two hundred yards from the bar- 
racks. Our Corporal made out the list of the sentries 
and stuck on the wall a bit of paper on which he had 
written our rotation. We had to be twenty-four hours 
on guard duty, so that each one of us had to be on sen- 
try-go four times, doing two hours at a time, and with 
an interval of four hours before his turn came round 
again. I was put on the second turn, from lo a.m. to 
noon, 4 to 6 p.m., io to I2 p.m., and 4 to 6 a.m. The 
Sergeant and Corporal were both on friendly terms with 
me, so that I did not have too bad a time of it. I took 
a great deal of interest in the duties of the Sergeant, and 
he explained to me what an awkward task his was. Of 
course I was supposed to have learned before all the 
routine of a Sergeant of the Guard, but merely hearing 

208 



TROOPER 3809 

a description read out gives one but a poor idea of what 
things are in practice. 

The Sergeant of the Guard is of course responsible for 
the relieving of sentries (though the actual duty is left 
to the Corporal) ; he has besides to see that the trum- 
peter is punctual in the various calls, he is responsible 
for the cleanliness of the various barrack-yards, and of 
the cells, and the Salle de Police, and for all the sanitary 
arrangements of the barracks. Whenever he requires 
troopers for fatigue duty he gets the trumpeter to call 
the various Corporals of the Week belonging to his squad- 
ron and tells them how many men he requires. He has 
the right to call the troopers who are punished with Salle 
de Police or confinement to barracks, and order them for 
fatigue duty. 

He has to examine every Sergeant, Corporal, and 
trooper who goes out of barracks, and has power to pre- 
vent their going out in the event of their outfit not being 
in proper order. He has also to see that no strangers 
come into the barracks without proper leave. After the 
night-call he sees that the doors of the barracks are closed, 
visits the stables to ascertain that no horses are loose, and 
that the stable guards are at their posts. He has also 
during the night to make rounds outside the barracks, 
and in case a horse or a trooper is taken sick and requires 
urgent help, he has to send round to call either the Vet. 
or the doctor as the case may be. The regulations on 
this subject are rather amusing, special stress being laid 
on the fact that the Sergeant of the Guard must only 
send on such an errand an intelligent trooper. There is 
no doubt that a Sergeant taking the guard gets very little 
opportunity for rest during the continuous twenty-four 
hours he is on duty, especially if he is under the orders of 
a strict Adjiidant, or of an erratic Captain of the Week, 

209 



TROOPER 3809 

such as Captain des Tourelles, who was on duty the first 
time I took the guard. 

When I took my first turn as sentry I was put outside 
the barrack gates, my instructions being as follows : 

In case any officer up to the rank of Captain passed me 
I was to shoulder arms, and if the officer was a Major or 
Lieutenant-colonel I had to present arms ; in case of our 
Colonel coming to the barracks I was to present arms, 
shouting at the same time, " Aux armes," all the troopers 
in the guard-room having to turn out and to render him 
military honours. I had to prevent strangers from go- 
ing out of barracks with a parcel, and was not to let any 
Corporal or trooper out of barracks if they carried a par- 
cel or a carbine, unless the Sergeant of the Guard gave 
me orders to the contrary. When I took my third turn 
(from ten to twelve) I was placed as sentry before the 
forage-store, and my orders were of the strictest — I had 
to challenge anybody passing within ten yards of me, and 
in case no reply was given to my challenge, I was to 
arrest the ofi^ender and to call out for help. This last 
order was well meant, but the guard-room being over 
three hundred yards away, I did not see how the others 
could possibly hear me. I was also ordered to prevent 
any one from approaching the wall of the store, and in 
case the offender did not move away after being chal- 
lenged three times I had to fire on him. I had not, how- 
ever, to salute any officers, such honours being dispensed 
wath after evening call. For the first hour nobody 
passed through the street, but towards half -past eleven 
I noticed Captain des Tourelles coming along; he was 
rather unsteady in his gait, and had to help himself by 
holding on to the wall. When he came within the regu- 
lation distance I challenged him, whereupon he leant 

210 



TROOPER 3809 

against the wall of the store and said : " That's all ri', my 
boy, it's all ri', it's me." 

I walked up to him and respectfully told him that my 
orders were to allow nobody to come near the wall of the 
forage-store. 

" It's all right," he said, " it's me." 

I expostulated with him, but I could not get him to 
budge, and I hardly knew what to do, when he pulled a 
cigarette out of his pocket and asked me for a match. I 
was well aware that if I allowed him to smoke near the 
forage-store I became liable to be court-martialled, but, 
on the other hand, if I laid hands on an officer I should 
also be court-martialled, so while he was fumbling in his 
pocket for a match I said to him, " Look here, sir, this is 
the forage-store, and you know that I can't let you smoke 
here." 

" The forage-store," he replied, " the forage-store — 
shpose can't smoke — here, you smoke it for me, my boy," 
he added, handing the cigarette over to me. 

I stuck it in my pocket and again asked him to move 
on. 

*' Yes, move on," he said ; " it's all very fine to say 
move on, but I sh'ld like to know first where my house 
is. Now where is my house? " 

I knew that he lived opposite the stores, and pointed 
out his house to him. 

'* Oh," he said, "that's my house? Funny my house 
getting so big all of a sudden. Why, it's all over win- 
dows — why's that, now tell me why d' I see so many 
windows? " 

" It's rather foggy, sir," I replied, " that is what makes 
you think so. It is your house all right, and there are 
only four windows to it." 

" Contr'dict me," he said, " and you contr'dict your 

211 



TROOPER 3809 

superior officer. You will have four days' Salle dc Po- 
lice, you understan' — four days' Salle de Police for con- 
tr'dicting your superior officer. Now — just hold on to 
me." 

I noticed that he was ready to collapse, and putting my 
carbine against the wall I held him up. After a few 
minutes his attack was over, and it evidently did him 
good, for he seemed much steadier on his legs, and pro- 
ceeded to walk with some accuracy in the direction of his 
house. He had just reached the middle of the road when 
he stopped and called out to me, '' Dragoon ! " he said, 
" you are a nice old Dragoon, and there's for you." 
Thereupon he handed over to me a 50-centime piece, and 
then reached the door of his house with my help. I sug- 
gested his handing me over his key, and having opened 
the door for him I stuck the key in his pocket and closed 
the door upon him. Soon after the Corporal came to 
relieve me, and I returned to the barracks. 

When I reached the guard-room I went to the Ser- 
geant's room, and told him what had happened, but we 
both agreed that it would never do to report the matter, 
as it never paid to " give away " an officer. I had to be 
once more on sentry-go (from 4 to 6 a.m.), but I tipped 
one of the troopers, who agreed to take my turn, and to 
remain four hours instead of two at his post. At half- 
past twelve, as I was disposing myself to lie down for a 
good sleep. Captain des Tourelles turned up again. All 
the other troops were lying down, and I had just left 
the Sergeant's office, so the Captain pounced on me. 
" Trooper," he said, " catch hold of a lantern. I want to 
go for a round," and at the same time he shouted for the 
Sergeant and Corporal of the Guard; noticing through 
the open door the Sergeant, who had begun to doze with 
his head resting on his arms. As soon, however, as the 

212 



TROOPER 3809 

Captain called out to him he jumped up and stood at at- 
tention. 

'' Nom de Dieu de faineant! (You d lazy beast " !) 

he cried out in a drunken voice. " There, I catch you 
asleep." 

The Sergeant tried to excuse himself, but the Captain 
told him to shut up. 

'' I am going with this Dragoon," he said, pointing to 
me, " to see whether everything is in order, and if every- 
thing is not in order je fen Hchcrai de dorniir. Come on," 
he added, turning to me, " walk in front of me." 

I prepared to do so, and asked the Captain where he 
w^ished to go. 

" To the Adjiidanfs room, of course," he replied. 
" Why d'you stick the light of that lantern in my eyes ? 
Come on, walk alongside of me, and give me your arm : 
you know that I am a father to all my Dragoons, and I 
don't know wdiere I have seen your face, but I like you — 
yes, I like you," he went on repeating. 

As we got to the staircase leading to the Adjiidanfs 
room the Captain stopped, and told me he was not going 
up all those stairs, and he ordered me to go and rouse 
the Adjudant, and to tell him that if he did not come 
sharp he would be sorry for it. The Adjudant, who had 
been a gendarme, and was an old soldier of many years' 
standing, having only a few months to wait to get his pen- 
sion, cursed and swore when I explained matters to him. 
I abstained from telling him that the Captain was drunk, 
but he evidently knew the old fellow's failing, for he 
muttered, as he got out of bed, " Drunk again, the old 
beast ! " I did not wait for him, but returned to the Cap- 
tain. I found him sitting at the bottom of the stairs 
dropping off into a doze ; but as soon as he heard my steps, 
and saw the light of my lantern, he tried to get up, but 

213 



TROOPER 3809 

was quite unable to do so until I helped him. He looked 
at me in a stupid way, and muttered, " What do you 
want ? " I reminded him that he had sent me to call the 
Adjudant. 

" The Adjudant? oh yes, the Adjudant. Why isn't he 
here?" 

" He is dressing, sir, and coming at once," I answered. 

"Dressing?" he said. ''What business has he to be 
undressed? I'm not undressed." 

Thereupon the Adjudant, who had donned his uniform 
in a remarkably short time, came down the stairs. 

He saluted, and said : '' You have sent for me, sir ? " 

" Sent for you," slowly replied the Captain. " Oh yes 
— I sent for you ; why the devil didn't you come at 
once ? " 

" I was in bed, sir, and had to dress." 

" Well," replied the Captain, " you had better go and 
undress and get back to bed ; I don't want you. I've got a 
Dragoon, and I have got a lantern, and do you imagine 
that I want any one to show me what is wrong? Don't 
stare at me like that," he added. '' Go to bed, I tell you." 

The Adjudant saluted, and quietly returned to his room, 
evidently well accustomed to such scenes. 

'' Come on, my Dragoon," said the Captain; taking hold 
of my arm, and dragging me towards the kitchen. When 
we got to the door I told him where we were. 

" That is just it," he says; " it's the kitchen I want to 
see ; " and as we stepped in, he slipped on the dirty floor, 
and before I could stop him he was sitting down besmeared 
with grease. He laughed, but the fall appeared to have 
done him good, and to have partly recalled him to his 
senses. I helped him to rise, and as he did so he turned to 
me, and ordered me to light up the stove with my lan- 
tern. '' That's all right," he said, '' I only wanted to see 

214 



TROOPER 3809 

in what state the cooks had left the kitchen. Til give 
them four days' cells to-morrow for having left their floor 
in such a disgraceful condition. And now I'll go home." 

According to his orders I walked ahead, and, pulling 
himself together, he followed me ; he told me to lead him 
as far as the gate of the infantry barracks, thus saving 
himself a detour of at least 300 yards. When he got to 
the gate he had so far recovered that he was able to order 
the infantry Sergeant to open it for him, and he walked 
straight out, the Sergeant never suspecting for a moment 
the state he was in. I returned to the guard-room and 
reported matters to the Sergeant, who asked me to keep 
the matter quite dark for the sake of the honour of the 
regiment. 

I do not mean to suggest that the picture I have just 
drawn is meant to represent the average French officer. 
Captain des Tourelles was, like Lieutenant Pernot whom 
I have previously mentioned, one of those officers who 
had gained their commission during the Franco-Prussian 
War ; and who but for an accident would never have held 
the rank of an officer in the French cavalry. They were 
therefore men of an exceptional class no longer to be 
found in the French army. Most of the cavalry officers 
nowadays a^^e gentlemen, and this remark even applies 
to the majority of those who have gained their commis- 
sion through the ranks, since the examinations for the ad- 
mission of cavalry Sergeants to the school of Saumur can 
only be passed by men who have received a superior 
education, and, as I have already stated, the Cadets of the 
St. Cyr who are allowed to serve in the cavalry are se- 
lected from amongst the most able of the candidates. I 
should not like to give so high a character to the French 
infantry officers. From my personal experience, as well 
as from all I have heard, I should say that very few of 

215 



TROOPER 3809 

them are gentlemen. There are, of course, exceptions, 
but, taken as a class, they are certainly below the average 
British Sergeant in education, manners, and military train- 
ing. I am speaking here of the subalterns, as those who 
reach a higher rank are either men belonging to the mid- 
dle classes, whose contact with gentlemen has improved 
their manners, or men who belong to good families but 
have been unable to secure the highest places as Cadets 
at St. Cyr. 

Such then was my experience of the first guard I took. 
Twenty-four hours on duty seems a long time, but after 
all, troopers enjoy a great deal of rest between the inter- 
vals of sentry-go, and " Taking the guard " is really more 
of a hardship to Sergeants and Corporals than to the 
troopers themselves. Where it becomes a real burden is 
in Paris, or other great towns where the various regiments 
have to supply a considerable number of men for different 
guards, so that the Sergeants may be called upon to take 
the guard as often as twice a week, and even the troopers 
cannot expect more than a week's immunity. 



216 



CHAPTER XIII 

In June we began " squadron school," and were drilled 
on the manoeuvring ground with our respective squad- 
rons. It was only then that all the officers attended the 
drill, for the training of the peloton had been left almost 
entirely to the Sergeants. By this time we might be re- 
garded as trained troopers, and, indeed, in time of war the 
Volontaires would have been quite fit to act as Sergeants, 
although it did not seem to be the aim of the French mili- 
tary authorities to use the Volontaires as such, in the re- 
serve, in case of war. All the reserve men had their own 
Sergeants already, and it was therefore difficult to under- 
stand why so much of our time was wasted in giving us a 
military education far superior to that of the average non- 
commissioned officer. 

Since we had begun to see less of Sergeant Legros I had 
not been incessantly punished as I had been when we 
were constantly under his orders, and I almost dared to 
hope that I should be able to finish my time without getting 
further acquainted with the Salle de Police. However, 
it was not so to be. One Sunday morning at 6 o'clock a 
Corporal, who was on weekly duty, came to me and asked 
me to let him have five francs, adding that if I gave him 
the money he would not send me down to clean the stables. 
I gave him the money, but half an hour later he came 
and asked me for more. He had no time to press me hard, 
as he was called away by the Sergeant, but, as soon as 
the latter had done with him, he came back just as I was 

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TROOPER 3809 

going down to stables. He was already drunk, and said 
he wanted another five francs. I absolutely declined to 
give him the money, pointing out that as he was on duty 
that day he would be severely punished for getting drunk, 
and I might also get punished for having supplied him 
with money. This put him in a frightful rage, and he 
asked me if I took him for a fool. I told him that it didn't 
matter whether I took him for a fool or not, but that he 
knew perfectly well that he made a fool of himself when 
he was drunk. 

" All right," he said ; ** you will have two days' Salle de 
Police for having called me a fool. By the way," he added, 
" Lemaire is sick, and you will have to take the guard for 
him." 

I remonstrated, explaining that I had taken the guard 
the previous week, and that it could not therefore be my 
turn to take the guard, even to replace a sick man. 

" You refuse to obey the orders of the Corporals ? " 

" Of course I don't refuse," I said, knowing well that 
in his state of mind he might, upon the least provoca- 
tion, report me as having refused to obey orders, and 
this would have meant a court-martial, and most likely a 
sentence of several years' hard labour. 

" Well, get ready then," said the Corporal. 

" I want to go and talk to the Sergeant-major first," I 
replied. 

" No you don't," he said, standing in front of me. 

Of course I could not lay hands on him, for, as I have 
already explained, the slightest assault on any man hold- 
ing a rank superior to one's own was invariably punished 
with death. I therefore proceeded to get my things ready, 
well knowing, however, that it was physically impossible 
for me to get my kit into proper order for parade upon so 
short a notice. Soon after, the Corporal having reeled 

218 



TROOPER 3809 

away, I went to the Sergeant-major's room, but there I 
found only his orderly, who told me to my utter dismay 
that the Sergeant-major had gone the previous evening 
on twenty-four hours' leave. I therefore walked down to 
the stables in order to find the Sergeant of the Week. On 
my way, however, I fell foul of the Corporal, who asked 
me where I was going. 

'' I am going to speak to the Sergeant of the Week," I 
said. 

'' No you don't," he replied ; " you just walk back with 
me." 

" I am going to the Sergeant of the Week," I repeated. 

'^ You refuse to obey orders then? " asked the Corporal. 

" No, but I am going to the Sergeant of the Week." 

*' By God," he said, " if you don't follow me to the room 
at once I will go straight to the Captain of the Week and 
report you for having refused to obey orders." 

Of course I had no alternative but to follow the Cor- 
poral, and I had to dress anyhow in order to be ready in 
time for the parade of the guard. The leather tops of my 
trousers were not properly polished, my sword and car- 
bine were not spick and span as they ought to have been 
for parade, and the brass work of my helmet was a trifle 
tarnished, for it had not been cleaned since the previous 
afternoon. As it was, I had to run to join the other troop- 
ers on parade, and when I got there the command " Atten- 
tion " had already been given. Captain des Tourelles was 
Captain of the Week, and the moment he caught sight of 
me he ordered me to come to him. 

'* You are late," he said. 

*' Captain," I replied, " the reason of it is " 

''' Shut up ! " he interrupted ; " don't answer me — you 
are filthy, you dirty beast ! " He then began to examine 
my buttons, my sword, my helmet, my carbine, muttering 

219 



TROOPER 3809 

the whole time, " Swine, swine. You are a Volant aire, 1 
think, and you come here late, and as filthy as a pig ! You 
shall have four days' Salle de Police." 

'' But — sir — " I ejaculated. 

*' You dare answer me ! You shall have four days more. 
Step back into the ranks ! " 

After we had been paraded and dismissed to the guard- 
room, I went to the Sergeant of the Guard to explain my 
case. This man was of low extraction, a peasant, in fact, 
who had been promoted to the rank of Sergeant merely on 
account of his undoubted severity. (He had once sent a 
man before the court-martial for refusing to obey him, and 
the poor trooper was sentenced to two years' hard labour.) 
This would seem to constitute a poor qualification for pro- 
motion, but, in many French regiments, it is notorious that 
a Corporal who sends a man before a court-martial is 
almost certain to be rewarded for his harshness. The 
Sergeant took very little interest in what I told him, and 
said it was no business of his, and that I had better speak 
to the Sergeant-major about it. The following day, when 
I left the guard, I went to see my Sergeant-major, but, 
unfortunately for me, he had obtained a two days' exten- 
sion of leave, and the Sergeant fourrier, who was acting 
in his stead, told me that my punishment had already ap- 
peared on the report, and had been forwarded to the 
Colonel. 

" Very well then," I said, losing my temper, " I shall go 
and complain to the Colonel," and I asked him to trans- 
mit my application to see that officer. He strongly urged 
me not to do so, assuring me that I should get no redress, 
but I was obstinate, and my demand was duly forwarded 
through the usual channels. 

At noon the Sergeant fourrier showed me a copy of the 
Colonel's orders for the day. " You have got it pretty 

220 



TROOPER 3809 

hot," he said, and he showed me the passage of the Col- 
onel's decision referring to my case. To my dismay I 
read the following : 

'' The punishments inflicted on Trooper Decle by Cor- 
poral Armand and by Captain des Tourelles are altered 
to twenty days' Salle de Police/' 

I had, therefore, to sleep in the cells that night, and the 
Sergeant told me that the answer to my application to see 
the Colonel would probably appear in the following day's 
regimental orders. I did not see Sergeant Legros until 
the following day, for, as I have explained before, troopers 
who have taken the guard are exempt from duty for four 
and twenty hours. The next morning, however, when we 
went to schoolroom, Legros called me. 

" So you have been at your tricks once more, eh Decle ? " 
he said. 

I told him exactly what had occurred, but he only 
shrugged his shoulders. 

" Serves you right ! " he said. " You Volontalrcs get 
into the habit of throwing your money right and left, and 
if you hadn't begun by tipping the Corporal all this 
wouldn't have happened." 

In the regimental orders of the day the Colonel stated 
that the application of Trooper Decle to see him was 
granted, and that the said Trooper Decle would have to 
be at his house at i p.m. the next day. I therefore got 
Titi and my other orderly to clean my clothes and my 
equipment with the utmost care, and at one o'clock sharp 
I proceeded to the Colonel's house. I was received by 
one of his orderlies, who took me to the kitchen. He 
went to inform the Colonel that I was there, and returned 
saying that the Colonel had sent word that I must wait. 
The cook very graciously offered me a cup of coffee, and 
during the good three-quarters of an hour that I had to 

221 



TROOPER 3809 

wait she related to me the details of her family history, 
telling me that she had already saved £20, which would 
make a nice little dowry when she got married, and also 
suggesting that I should take her out for a walk next 
Sunday. (I could only politely express my regret at being 
unable to do this, as I was undergoing punishment.) She 
further told me that she did not care much for her place, 
as " /a Colonelle " * was too close-fisted, and there was not 
enough graft age (perquisites) in the place. At the end 
of three-quarters of an hour the Colonel's orderly told me 
to walk upstairs, and showed me into a study where the 
Colonel was writing at a desk, in regimental trousers, a 
pair of slippers, and a black alpaca coat. He did not turn 
round, and I stood, helmet in hand, near the door. I had 
quite forgotten the regulations, and, finding myself in 
polite society, I had instinctively uncovered. Just as I 
remembered that I ought to keep my helmet on, and was 
replacing it, the Colonel, hearing me move, turned his 
head round. 

" What are you fiddling about with your helmet for? " 
he asked. " Stand still, will you? " and he went on writ- 
ing. Ten minutes later he ordered me to come forward. 
I saluted and stood at attention. 

'' Take oiT your helmet," said the Colonel. 

I took it off. 

*' Your hair is too long, you will have to get it cut ; and 
3^ou will soon get a court-martial if you go on like that. 
Put on your helmet. What do you want ? " 

'' Sir," I began, " I have been punished " 

" Punished ! " he exclaimed. " Yes, you are always 

* It is customary in France to designate the wives of superior officers 
and officials by their husband's titles ; even in good society people will 
speak of La Generale, La Colonelle, La Commandante, La Prefete, La 
Sous-prefete, and so on. 

222 



TROOPER 3809 

punished. You are the worst trooper in my regiment. 
We don't want men Hke you in the French army. What 
do you want? " 

" Sir," I once more began, " I have been punished by 
Corporal " 

'' I know it," he repHed, waxing quite angry. *' I told 
you so before, you are always punished — always punished. 
If it is to tell me that that you have come here, you might 
have stopped at the barracks. Why the deuce don't you 
tell me what you want ? Do you think I am standing here 
at your orders ? " 

" If you will allow me to explain, sir," I replied, " I will 
tell you why and how I have been punished." 

" I don't want to know anything about it," said the 
Colonel, in an angry voice. " Let me see, how many days 
have you got ? " 

'' Twenty days, sir," I said. 

" Have you finished your punishment? " 

" No, sir, I have only done two days so far." 

" And you dare to come and complain to me ! But I 
ought not to be astonished — for cool cheek and impudence 
you haven't your equal. Go back to" barracks and tell the 
Adjiidant to put you down ten days more for having made 
an unjustified complaint. That's all — look sharp ! " 

I saluted, and as I was walking towards the door the 
Colonel added : " I will teach you not to come and bother 
me in future." On my way to barracks I thought of the 
advice the Sergeant foiirrier had given me, and I felt dis- 
tinctly sorry that I had not followed it. 

At the end of ten days I began to be so exhausted by 
sleepless nights and the hard physical work we had now 
to do that I began to feel seriously ill. I also had a re- 
lapse of sore throat accompanied with fever, undoubtedly 
due to all lack of sanitary precautions in the Salle de 

223 



TROOPER 3809 

Police. Since the warm weather had come, to the other 
horrors of the place another was added. Fleas and lice 
came through the boards by thousands, and our rooms 
were infested with vermin. I went to the medical visit, 
and the doctor found me so seriously ill that he had to 
send me to the hospital, promising at the same time that 
he would do his best to try and get me invalided. A fort- 
night later he proposed me for invalidation, but the Special 
Commission before whom I was examined refused to in- 
valid me, but consented to allow me two months' sick leave. 
I was kept a week longer in hospital, and at the end of 
that time left the regiment for two months. This interval 
of respite I spent in Switzerland, where I did a good deal 
of mountain climbing. 

I can hardly describe my feelings when I had to return 
to my regiment, and to go back to slavery. When I re- 
joined my corps I found but a few men in barracks, as the 
regiment was away at the manoeuvres. The fifth squadron 
alone, which forms the depot, was left in barracks, and 
there also remained a few troopers in each squadron, 
mostly sick men, who were to look after the chargers 
which had been left behind as unfit for hard work in the 
field. I tried my best to get permission to join my regi- 
ment, but this was not granted me ; on the other hand, 
the Major in command of the depot, who was acting as 
Colonel in the absence of the regiment, selected me to 
train some of the young horses which had proved refrac- 
tory. This is the only good time I had as a trooper. I 
was particularly fond of the work, being allowed to ride 
whenever I liked, and having permission to use my own 
hunting-saddle. I had six horses to train, so that I was 
in the saddle almost the whole day, and had no one to 
bully me. 

When the regiment returned, the Volontaires were once 

224 



TROOPER 3809 

more put together, and prepared for their final examina- 
tion, which was to take place in the middle of October. 
On their return from the manoeuvres the troopers who 
had completed their five years' service left for their homes 
amidst great rejoicings. Shortly after the departure of the 
time-expired men {la classc), a good many of those who 
had remained behind broke away from the regiment, but 
most of them returned before the expiration of six days, 
the law being that after six days' time a trooper absent 
without leave becomes a deserter, and is tried by court- 
martial, the sentence passed on him ranging from one to 
three years' hard labour. Those who absented themselves 
for less than six days were punished with fifteen days' 
prison by the Colonel, but after some time so many 
troopers absconded in that way, that, in order to put a 
stop to the practice, the Colonel promised that any man 
absenting himself without leave in future would get thirty 
days' prison, and that all the troopers belonging to his 
company would be confined to barracks for thirty days 
also. Notwithstanding this, one trooper, who had twice 
absconded within the last four months, ran away once 
more, and the troopers of his company were duly con- 
signed to barracks during thirty days. When the fellow 
returned at the end of the fifth day, his comrades, infuri- 
ated by the punishment they had received through his mis- 
conduct, determined to punish him on their own account, 
and the Lieutenant in command of the peloton, when he 
heard of this, secretly consented to the plan. When the 
trooper returned, the Lieutenant ordered that before he 
was taken to prison he was to be sent to the room '' to 
change his clothes." The moment he entered he was 
seized by the other troopers, tied face downwards on to a 
table, and every one of the twenty-four troopers of the 
company filed past him, each one dealing him a sharp blow 

225 



TROOPER 3809 

with the buckle end of his charger's girth. He was then 
untied, and led to the riding-school, where a blanket was 
in readiness. In this blanket were placed sundry wooden 
clogs, besides platters and a scabbard or two. The blanket 
was then held all round by the defaulter's comrades, and 
he was chucked into it, and sent flying high up into the air 
perhaps a dozen times. I witnessed the punishment, and 
wondered how the poor fellow after being sent flying more 
than fifteen feet into the air, and then dropping amidst a 
shower of scabbards, clogs, and platters, back into the 
blanket, was not killed outright. When the punishment 
had come to an end the trooper was marched to the prison, 
or, rather, supported thither. On the way he met his 
Lieutenant and complained bitterly of the treatment he had 
received, but the oflicer merely told him that he had fully 
deserved all he had got. The following day he was so 
bruised and shaken that he could not rise, and he asked 
for a doctor. The latter went to see him, but declined to 
do anything for him, merely relieving him from punish- 
ment drill during the next couple of days. 

At that time there were from twelve to fourteen troopers 
in prison, so that a pcloton de chasse (punishment com- 
pany) was organised, under the orders of a certain Ser- 
geant de Cormet, who enjoyed the reputation of being the 
most severe Sergeant of the whole regiment. An episode 
which occurred during the previous winter may be quoted 
as an example of his method. It was bitterly cold, and he 
was drilling the prisoners, making them do the sword ex- 
ercise and keeping the troopers for five or ten minutes 
in the same position. He had ordered the second position 
of the coup de sabre vers la droite, which consists in hold- 
ing the sword extended to the right at arm's length ; at 
the end of a few minutes the troopers became so tired 

226 



TROOPER 3809 

that none of them were able to hold their bodies straight, 
and had to put their left shoulders down, and let the points 
of their swords drop. De Cormet as usual walked behind 
them coolly saying, " Trooper Gabier, four days more for 
not holding yourself straight ; Trooper Chirac, your 
sword is not straight, you will have two days more," and 
so on. All of a sudden one of the prisoners, a poor weak 
fellow, said to him : 

'' Sergeant, my hands are frozen ; will you allow me to 
blow in them for one minute ? I can't hold my sword any 
longer." 

" Four days for speaking in the ranks," answered de 
Cormet, in his monotonous voice. 

The trooper's fingers were as white as w^ax, and he soon 
repeated his request with a similar result. At last, unable 
to stand the pain any longer, the trooper put his sword 
under his arm and blew on his fingers. 

" Hold your sword in position at once," said the Ser- 
geant ; '' I shall report you to the Colonel." 

" But, Sergeant, I can't," cried the trooper. 

" You refuse to obey ? " said the Sergeant. 

" I can't, I can't," said the trooper, sobbing with pain, 
and at the same time trying to grasp his sword, but finding 
himself unable to close his benumbed fingers. 

Again the Sergeant ordered him to hold his sword out, 
but the man burst into tears, and once more sobbed, " I 
can't, I can't ! " Thereupon the Sergeant commanded 
another prisoner to carry the sword, and calling out to 
one of the troopers on guard, ordered him to fetch the 
Corporal, and when the latter came he had the poor fellow 
conveyed to the cells, and reported him for refusal to obey 
orders. The trooper was therefore tried by court-martial, 
and sentenced to tzvo years' hard labour! I little dreamt 
at the time that the day would come when, as will be seen 

227 



TROOPER 3809 

presently, I would have the misfortune to be placed in the 
power of this fiend. 

As the day fixed for our final examination approached 
we were all busy looking through our various books in 
order to be well up to the subjects in which we were to 
be examined. Our Sergeant chiefly made us practise to 
give the word of command ; and when one of us v/as 
placed in command of the company, he had, before order- 
ing any movement, to explain fully the way in which 
such movement ought to be executed. In fact, we were 
taught to act as Sergeants. At last the great day came. 
The subjects on which we were to be examined were 
these : 

Dismounted drill, and command. 

Hippology. 

Voltige. 

Gymnastics. 

Topography. 

Knowledge of regulations in barracks and in the field. 

Riding. 

Mounted drill, and command. 

The maximum number of marks which could be gained 
for each subject was twenty. We were examined by a 
Board of Officers, consisting of a Major, the Captain 
instriictciir, our own Captain, and one Lieutenant. The 
order in which we were called was settled according to 
the numbers under which we had been enrolled, so that I 
came third on the list of troopers ; the three Volontaircs 
who had been made Corporals coming of course before the 
others. The first subject on which we were examined 
was dismounted drill. (The Corporals could select their 
own subject, so that their examination was merely nom- 
inal.) The two Volontaires who were examined before 
me were told to explain the mere rudiments of the subject, 

228 



TROOPER 3809 

but when my turn came I was ordered to explain and com- 
mand the most difficult manoeuvres. I did this with credit 
to myself, and I was further ordered to command sword 
drill ; this I also did well, and I was then sent back to the 
ranks. With the exception of three or four of the Volon- 
taires, who bungled most frightfully in explaining the 
simplest movements, all of us knew our work thoroughly 
well. We were then taken to the riding-school and ex- 
amined on Hippology ; only four or five of us knew any- 
thing about this, and d'Alvarez, who was a Corporal, 
knew so little about the subject that the Lieutenant had 
to prompt all his answers. 

We were then dismissed for breakfast, and were told to 
return at eleven o'clock to the riding-school to be ex- 
amined on voltige and gymnastics. We were hardly 
given a chance to show what we could do, however, as 
the officers were anxious to go and have luncheon. When 
they returned at 3 p.m. we were taken to the school- 
room, where our proficiency in topography was put to 
the test. I have never seen anything more ridiculous 
than this part of the examination, for with the excep- 
tion of the Captain Instructeur, the officers seemed to 
know very little about the subject, and most of the 
Volontaires knew still less. We were closely examined 
on all questions dealing with the duties of Sergeants and 
Corporals, in barracks and in the field, and, although the 
officers who examined us tried their best to put me 
wrong, I showed myself quite proficient, which evidently 
disconcerted the officers, as I heard them whispering, 
" We must give him good marks, but it's a nuisance, you 
know." 

*' We shall find a way," replied my Captain. I did not 
realise then what this meant, but I understood it quite 
soon enough. 

229 



TROOPER 3809 

This part of the examination over, we were dismissed 
for the day, and ordered to be ready for mounted drill, 
with full kit, the next morning at 8 a.m. At the appointed 
time, the officers who had examined us the previous day 
turned up at the barracks, and accompanied by a trumpeter 
we started for the manoeuvring ground. 

We had first to ride individually at various paces, and 
were then ordered to go over the jumps. Very little 
notice was taken of our riding, and while this went on 
the officers chatted together, hardly bestowing a glance 
on us. 

After this we had, each in turn, to take command of the 
peloton, and to explain and command various evolutions 
according to the officer's orders. I was successful in all 
the various manoeuvres I was ordered to command; but 
many of the others made a sad mess of it, especially when 
they had to wheel their company round, take it at a gallop 
to a certain point, and then return so as to march past in 
fours before the Major. Miscalculation of distances was 
the commonest source of error. The examination over, 
we were marched back to barracks, and in the evening my 
Sergeant-major told me that he had seen the marks, and 
that I was among the first half. I expressed my delight, 
but he said warmly : 

'' Don't crow yet, my boy ; they mean to keep you a 
second year, and they will find a way to do it." 

I was thunderstruck, for I never thought, for an in- 
stant, of such a contingency. I told the Sergeant-major 
that it would be monstrous, considering that I had proved 
my proficiency. 

'' Take my warning," he said, *' and don't be aston- 
ished if they keep you another year." 

De Lanoy, to whom I went, then said that he did not 
think that the Colonel could possibly keep me, as he 

230 



TROOPER 3809 

would have to keep a good many others who were below 
me in proficiency if he did so. 

It was, therefore, with a beating heart that, on the fol- 
lowing day, I stood on parade, awaiting the result of 
the examination, which was to be proclaimed to us by 
our Captain, who had prepared a little speech for the 
occasion. 

" I have to congratulate you," he said, " on your pro- 
ficiency, which is due to the untiring efforts of Sergeant 
Legros, whom I hope soon to see duly rewarded. With 
the exception of two or three of you, I have never had a 
better or more intelligent set of troopers under my or- 
ders. Now I will, before reading out to you the result 
of the examination, explain how it has been arrived at. 
The maximum of marks allotted for each subject is 
twenty, and the number of marks gained by each candi- 
date is multiplied by a coefficient fixed according to 
the relative importance of the subject." He then read 
out to us the various coefficients (which will be found 
farther on). " In your previous examinations," he went 
on, " we did not reckon good conduct, but this being a 
final examination, and the submission of each trooper to 
discipline being a matter of such paramount importance, 
the Colonel has decided to give it due prominence, and 
has, therefore, fixed the coefficient at the figure of fifty, 
which makes altogether the maximum number of marks 
to be gained 2000. I am glad to add that many of you 
have obtained more than the three quarters of the pos- 
sible number of marks, and this, I say once more, is en- 
tirely due to the efforts of your able Sergeant." 

The Captain then read out the list. At the head of it 
stood the names of the three Volonfaires who had been 
previously appointed Corporals, the first being d'x\lvarez. 
This made us smile, for, though we all liked him. we 

231 



TROOPER 3809 

knew perfectly well, that if it had not been for the influ- 
ence of his family, he would have ranked near the end of 
the list. The two other Corporals had worked hard since 
their promotion, and fully deserved their position. The 
Captain, however, continued to read out name after name, 
and yet mine had not been reached. I became more and 
more alarmed, and I turned cold when it came at last, at 
the very end of the list, with 633 marks only, while the 
man before me, one of the most vulgar, ignorant, and 
stupid fellows I ever met, had 1027. All the others 
looked at me, and felt in their hearts that a gross injustice 
had been committed. 

I was aroused from my thoughts by the Captain's 
voice : 

" Decle," he said, *' I am sorry to have to communicate 
bad news to you ; but the Colonel, after due considera- 
tion, has decided that, having regard to the too small 
amount of marks you have obtained — you see you are the 
only one who has less than half of the possible maximum 
— the Colonel, I repeat, has decided that you shall be kept 
back to complete your military education. I am sorry 
for you, but it cannot be helped. As to the others, those 
who are already Corporals will be promoted to the rank 
of Sergeant, and the next three on the list are promoted 
to the rank of Corporal." 

Thereupon he dismissed us. I went to him, and begged 
and implored him to ask the Colonel to reconsider his 
decision, but he replied that I was merely wasting my 
time and his. 

The blow had fallen, and I felt like a madman ! The 
first thing I did was to obtain a copy of the list, which 
was posted up in the schoolroom. I then saw how the 
trick had been played. A few words of explanation will 
make the device clear. 

232 



TROOPER 3809 

The result of the examination, so far as I was con- 
cerned, was as follows : 



Dismounted drill and command 

Hippology 

Voltige 

Gymnastics 

Topography 

Knowledge of regulations 

Riding 

Mounted drill and command 

Grand total . , , . , 



Co- 
efficients. 



My marks. 



13 
16 
12 
10 

9 
10 
18 
12 



Totals. 



104 
80 

72 
50 
45 
60 
126 
96 



633 



The highest marks obtained out of a possible 1000 were 
816, the lowest marks (given to the Volontaire next to 
me on the list) were 177. By the actual marks obtained 
I ought to have been classed the fifth out of fourteen, but 
as the examiners were determined that I should be the 
last on the list, the following plan was devised : — 

" Good conduct " was added to the other items, and a 
coefficient of no less than fifty was allotted to it. With 
the exception of two other Volontaircs besides myself 
twenty marks were given to every one for good conduct, 
thus increasing their totals by one thousand! The Vol- 
ontaire who was last but one was given seventeen marks 
for good conduct, and this, multiplied by fifty, made 850 
to be added on to his beggarly 177, giving him a total of 
1027 marks. I was given nothing for good conduct, so 
that I remained with my original 633 marks, and was 
thus classed last. The regulations stated that Volon- 
taires, who at the end of the year had failed to show a 
proficiency sufficient to enable them to obtain a number 



TROOPER 3809 

of marks at least equal to half the possible maximum at 
the final examination might be detained for a second year 
— I was therefore detained according to the regulations! 
It was with an almost broken heart that I bade good- 
bye to all my comrades, and when I watched the train 
which took them away disappearing in the distance, I felt 
like a marooned stowaway who watches the departing 
ship sink below the horizon. When they had gone I 
went to my room at the hotel, seriously debating whether 
I should desert or else shoot myself. That I did neither 
remains a source of wonder to me. 



234 



CHAPTER XIV 

I DO not intend to enter into many of the details of my 
second year's service, as this was a mere repetition of 
what I had already gone through, and I will therefore 
confine myself to a brief description of that portion of my 
adventures which may offer some special points of in- 
terest. 

Some time elapsed before the arrival of the new Vol- 
ontaires, and during this period we had practically no 
work to do with the exception of '' stables." All the Ser- 
geants of my squadron, and many of those belonging to 
other squadrons, had made friends with me, and they all 
pitied me for the cruel position I was placed in. Mean- 
while the senior Adjiidant retired with a pension, and 
my Sergeant-major was appointed in his stead, while 
Sergeant fourricr Vaillant became Sergeant-major. 
Vaillant was a particular friend of mine, so that with his 
help, and the support I knew the Adjudant would give 
me, I hoped that if a decent Sergeant was put in charge 
of the Vol on f aires I should soon obtain my discharge. 
There was no chance of our being entrusted again to the 
tender mercies of Legros, as he had also been appointed 
Sergeant-major. 

A number of Volontaircs were drafted Into our regi- 
ment that year — I believe there were nearly thirty of 
them. Socially and intellectually they were very inferior 
to my previous comrades. There never existed between 
them that spirit of comradeship which was so great among 

235 



TROOPER 3809 

the little set to which I belonged. Shortly after their ar- 
rival a trooper from the first squadron came to tell me 
that Sergeant de Cormet wanted to speak to me, and that 
I was to go to his room at once. I could not imagine 
what he wanted with me, as I did not belong to his squad- 
ron, and I had never had anything to do with the man. 
I went, however, and when I reached his room I asked 
him whether it was true that he had sent for me. 

" Yes," he said, " I want to speak to you. I have just 
heard that I am going to be put in charge of the Volon- 
taires, and as it appears that nobody has yet been able to 
break yoii in, I merely wanted to warn you that I mean 
to succeed. If ordinary means are not successful, I'll 
stand no nonsense, and I'll find some way to get you 
court-martialled. A few years in a gaol would do a lot 
of good to a swine of your class." 

I had so far made no reply, but stood with my arms 
folded on my chest. My face must have expressed my 
stifled anger, I suppose, for when I took two steps for- 
ward the Sergeant retreated towards the window. 
'' Don't be afraid," I said, " I am not going to touch you 
— you are not v\^orth it ; but now that you have told rne 
Vv^hat you mean to do, I will also tell you what I mean to 
do. Remember this — vou may find a way to get me 
court-martialled, though I doubt it, but if you do — when 
I come out, be it in ten years', in fifteen years', or even 
twenty years' time — I shall kill you." 

" You dare to threaten me — me a Sergeant ! " he said. 

" Don't get mv blood up : you had better not," I re- 
plied ; " remember that there are no witnesses here, and 
if you rouse me I might cause you bodily harm. I am a 
rrood deal stronger than you. But T think that this con- 
versation has lasted long enough, and I will only add a 
few words to what I told vou before. I warned you 

236 



TROOPER 3809 

what I would do if you got me court-martialled, but I 
further warn you that if you bully me while I am under 
your orders I will punish you when I am no longer a 
soldier. And now that we quite understand each other 
I will say good afternoon, only mind," I added, " if you 
report me for what has taken place here I will deny every- 
thing ; you have no means of proving your word, and you 
would not have dared to tell me what you did in presence 
of witnesses." 

I returned to my room fairly heart-broken at the idea 
that I was going to be under the orders of the most 
cow^ardly brute in the whole regiment ; I had seen the fel- 
low at work when he was drilling the prisoners, and I 
knew that if I had had a bad time of it while I served 
under Sergeant Legros, it would be ten times worse un- 
der Sergeant de Cormet. Shortly afterwards the Volon- 
taires and the recruits of the year arrived, and being a 
trooper of a year's standing I was allotted a recruit to 
whom I was supposed to teach his work. I almost de- 
spaired of ever doing anything with the fellow, and in 
vain I tried to prevent his being bullied, but the stupid, 
chap seemed to do all he could to invite it. 

" I say, you chaps," he said to the troopers on his 
arrival, " I am a Parisian, you know, and I am not going 
to stand any nonsense. I have been in a grocer's shop, 
and I am not a greenhorn. Besides, my cousin Beau jean 
has been in a Dragoon regiment, and he has told me all 
about it, so no bullying please, or else you will have to do 
with Jossier — that's my name." 

I need not say that after this little speech of his, Jos- 
sier became the butt of all the practical jokers in the room. 
The scenes I described at the beginning of this book were 
of course once more renewed, but one of the jokes which 
were played on my bleu (recruit) was quaint enough to 

237 



TROOPER 3809 

be related. He was in the habit of wearing at night a 
bonnet de coton, similar to the head-gear which was given 
to us at hospital, but much more bulky. When drawn out 
to its full length it was fuUy two feet long, and when he 
had it on his head the peak stood some eight inches above 
his head, with an enormous tassel fixed on to it. One 
evening, after he had gone to sleep, a practical joker set 
the tassel alight, and being of cotton it began to burn 
merrily. Nearly all the men in the room collected round 
his bed to see the fun, and hearing a noise he sat up in 
bed and looked at us in a bewildered way. By this time 
the tassel was burnt down, and the other part of the head- 
gear was smouldering away. 

" Well," he said, '* you are a nice lot of fools to stand 
there staring round my bed like a lot of idiots. It's very 
funny to look at a man, isn't it ? " 

We were all laughing, as he had not yet noticed that 
his head-gear was on fire ; but all of a sudden his speech 
was interrupted, as he felt an uncomfortable heat near 
the crown of his head, and having impulsively put his 
hand to his head he realised what was the matter, and 
chucked away his bonnet de coton. 

" Ah, you swine," he exclaimed, " I'll teach you," and 
he jumped out of his bed, making a dash for us. Un- 
luckily for him, the first man on whom he jumped was 
Piatte, to whom he dealt a blow on the chest. Piatte 
caught hold of him by the arms and legs, and shouted, 
laughing, '' I say, boys, I've caught a flea; let's make it 
jump!" Immediately a blanket was produced, and the 
recruit tossed up, and when they put him once more on 
his legs he did not complain, but quietly sneaked into his 
bed. 

During the fortnight which elapsed until the Volon- 
taires were put together, I was told off by my Sergeant- 

238 



TROOPER 3809 

major to drill half a dozen recruits, and at the end of the 
week I had already got more out of my recruits than any 
of the Corporals who were in charge of the others. The 
method I employed was to promise my men a bottle of 
wine if they drilled well, and of course they all did their 
utmost to gain that reward. Captain Hermann, who, as 
the reader will remember, was in command of our squad- 
ron, and had been in charge of the Volontaires, was evi- 
dently pleased with me, and actually came to congratu- 
late me. This state of affairs unfortunately lasted only 
for a fortnight, and at the end of that time the new Vol- 
ontaires were formed into a separate pcloton, and on ac- 
count of their number two officers were placed in com- 
mand of them — Captain Hermann and Lieutenant Amy. 
Two Sergeants were also detached for this service — Ser- 
geant de Cormet and Sergeant Cordier. The latter was 
a personal friend of mine, and I knew that he would coun- 
teract de Cormet's bad intentions towards me. No Cor- 
poral had yet been selected by the Colonel, and therefore 
when the Volontaires were assembled for the first time, 
I took my position to the left of the company, the Cor- 
poral's place, which, by rights, belonged to me as the 
senior trooper. The previous year when we were formed 
into a separate peloton there was among us a Volontaire 
who had been detained and who belonged to the lot who 
had served before us, and Legros had always made him 
do Corporal's duty. But evidently de Cormet did not 
mean to treat me in that way, for he ordered me to take 
my place in the ranks among the others, and he made 
me go through all the rudiments of the instruction, as 
if I had been a raw recruit. The other Sergeant treated 
me very differently, and when he took the service the 
following day he ordered me to act as Corporal. Lieu- 
tenant Amy, however, turned up in the middle of the 

239 



TROOPER 3809 

drill and sharply reprimanded the Sergeant, ordering that 
I should be put through the rudiments of the drill abso- 
lutely as if I had been a raw recruit. To make things 
worse, Sergeant Cordier was taken with typhoid fever a 
few days after he took charge of us, and having had a 
relapse during his convalescence he was sent home on ^ 
six months' sick-leave. 

Early in December two Corporals were appointed to 
help de Cormet: one of them, Lormand, was a school- 
fellow of mine, who had enlisted three months before, and 
had just been promoted to the rank of Corporal. 

I had been doing work with the new Volonf aires for 
a fortnight, and Sergeant de Cormet hadn't yet found 
it possible to punish me, for Lieutenant Amy was always 
present when we drilled, and de Cormet himself spent 
very little time in the schoolroom, leaving one of the 
Corporals in charge of it. As, however, the previous 
year's regulations as to leave were still in force, de Cor- 
met had always refused to let me apply for leave. A few 
months before, I had attained my majority, and at the 
beginning of December my solicitors wrote me a most 
urgent letter pressing me to come to Paris without delay, 
to settle some important matters. I showed this letter 
to de Cormet, but he absolutely declined to grant me 
leave, and the Captain to whom I then went was equally 
emphatic in his refusal, adding that I should only get 
leave for the New Year provided I was not punished in 
the interval. As it was most necessary that I should go 
to Paris that week, I went to see the Adjndant, Bernard, 
my former Sergeant-major, and asked him to let me go 
to Paris from Saturday afternoon after " stables " until 
Monday morning. He at once promised not to report 
me missing, and told me to go and settle matters with 
my Sergeant-major. The latter readily acquiesced, and 

240 



TROOPER 3809 

suggested a plan which would enable me to reach Paris 
before the offices were closed. " Stables " being over at 
4 o'clock, I could by catching the 4.30 train reach Paris 
at 5.30, and as the offices do not close till 6 o'clock (Sat- 
urday half-holidays are unknown in France), I should be 
in time to transact my business. My Sergeant-major, 
however, remarked that if I wanted to catch the 4.30 
train I would have no time to go to the hotel to change 
my regimentals for civilian attire, and therefore sug- 
gested that I should dress in civilian clothes in his room 
and leave barracks by the infantry gate. I had made it 
a rule whenever I went to Paris without leave to wear 
over my clothes a long blue blouse falling below the 
knees, with a silk cap (the costume of the lower classes in 
the North of France), and I also wore a false beard and 
blue spectacles. I donned this attire in the Sergeant- 
major's room, and in order that I should have no difficulty 
at the gate he accompanied me there, and told the Ser- 
geant that I was a friend of his who was in a hurry to 
catch his train, and I was thus allowed to pass. I reached 
the station only just in time, and the train was already 
moving, so that I had to jump into the carriage nearest 
at hand, and received a severe shock at finding myself in 
company with two officers of my regiment. Having a 
newspaper in my pocket, however, I opened it, and held 
it in front of my face. My disguise was so good that 
the officers had not recognised me when I jumped into 
the carriage, but I was afraid that they might become sus- 
picious if I held a newspaper in front of my face during 
the whole journey. I therefore got out of the carriage 
at the following station, where I had just time to jump 
into a second-class compartment. Here, to my astonish- 
ment, I found my school-fellow, Corporal Lormand, also 
in civilian attire ; I knew that he had no leave, and as we 

241 



TROOPER 3809 

had been great chums at school, I did not hesitate to re- 
move my false beard and blue spectacles, which were a 
great discomfort to me. 

" Well I never ! " exclaimed Lormand when he recog- 
nised me. " Your disguise is so good," he added, " that 
I should never have known you. But how is it that you 
are going to Paris without leave ? " 

" I might put the same question to you," I replied, '' as 
we seem to be both in the same boat." 

We chatted pleasantly until we reached Paris, where 
we parted company — not, however, without having ar- 
ranged to lunch together the next day. 

I returned to my garrison town by the last Sunday 
train and found the Adjudant, to whom I had wired, wait- 
ing for me outside the barracks, so that I should walk 
in unquestioned. He told me that everything was all 
right, and that nobody had noticed my absence, so I went 
to my Sergeant-major's room to change my clothes. 

The next morning, as we were assembled for dismount- 
ed drill, de Cormet called me to him. 

" You went to Paris yesterday without leave," he said. 

" No, Sergeant," I replied. 

" I tell you that you went to Paris yesterday without 
leave, and what's more, in civilian attire." 

'' You are making a mistake, Sergeant," I again said. 

" Didn't you see Decle ? " he then asked, turning to 
Corporal Lormand. 

'' Yes, Sergeant, I saw him," replied the latter. 

'' What have you to say to that? " asked de Cormet. 

** Nothing, Sergeant." 

*' Very well," he went on, " I will send you to the prison 
at once ; " and forthwith he had me marched off by the 
Corporal of the Guard. 

I need not say that Sergeant de Cormet had absolutely 

242 



TROOPER 3809 

no right to send me to prison, but knowing that the Cap- 
tain would always endorse whatever he did, he never 
hesitated to give us punishments far in excess of those 
he was entitled to inflict. At breakfast time, after he 
had dismissed the Volontaircs, he came to the prison, 
where he found me alone. 

*' Now I have come to speak to you, Decle," he said. 
'' I have not yet reported the matter either to the Lieu- 
tenant or to the Captain, and if you will tell me the truth 
I promise you that you shall not be punished. I am fully 
aware that you went to Paris in civilian attire, with leave 
from your Sergeant-major, and I believe with the Ad- 
judant's knowledge, but we shall leave the latter out of 
the question. Now if you will make a declaration in the 
presence of the Captain and another witness, saying that 
you have been to Paris with leave from your Sergeant- 
major, you shall not be punished." 

" Will you allow me to think over your ofifer. Ser- 
geant ? " I asked. 

" Yes," he said ; '* I will release you now, and give you 
till eleven o'clock to make up your mind. You will tlien 
come to my room and tell me what you have decided.'* 

I was accordingly let out of prison, and pretended to 
go to my room, but the moment de Cormet had disap- 
peared, I rushed to the Adjiidanfs room and told him 
how matters stood. 

*' What do you mean to do? " he asked me. 

" You need not put such a question to me," I replied. 
" You ought to know that I would rather get sixty days' 
prison than give you and my Sergeant-major away ; what 
we must do," I added, '' is to discuss the situation with 
Sergeant-major Vaillant, so that he may be fully aware 
of what I mean to say, and act accordingly." The Ad- 
judant dispatched a trooper to call the Sergeant-major. 

243 



TROOPER 3809 

When the latter turned up he was greatly concerned to 
hear what had happened, but I assured him that he need 
have no fear, and explained my plan to him. I would say 
that I left barracks on the Saturday evening after ar- 
ranging my bed so that it appeared as if I were sleeping 
in it when the Sergeant of the Week passed through the 
room to call the evening roll. I would also say that the, 
Sergeant-major gave me leave not to attend stables on 
the Sunday (which he had a perfect right to do), and 
that I returned to barracks on Sunday night by getting 
over the wall. I would also explain that I was not re- 
ported missing at the Sunday evening roll-call, one of 
my comrades having prepared my bed as I had on the 
previous night, so that the Sergeant of the Week did not 
notice my absence. Sergeant-major Vaillant remarked 
that if I told that story I should be punished with special 
severity, but I said I did not mind in the least so long as 
I did not get him into trouble. He thanked me profusely. 
" In the state of mind the Colonel is in," he added, " if he 
found out that I had given you leave he would be certain 
to reduce me in rank." The Adjudant remarked that de 
Cormet's motive was plain, for being first on the list of 
the Sergeants proposed for promotion to Sergeant-ma- 
jor's rank, he wanted to avail himself of the chance of 
getting Vaillant reduced to secure his place. 

At eleven o'clock sharp I went to de Cormet's room 
and found him in the most amiable frame of mind. 

" Well," he said, " I suppose that you have made up 
your mind to tell the whole truth ? " 

" Certainly, Sergeant," I replied ; " I see no good in 
shrinking from it, and I will tell you exactly what hap- 
pened." I then told him the story I had concocted with 
the Sergeant-major and the Adjudant. 

" You are telling me lies," he angrily exclaimed. " I 

244 



TROOPER 3809 

can't understand your doing your best to get an exemplary 
punishment when you can so easily get off scot-free. 
Why don't you confess purely and simply that you had 
your leave from your Sergeant-major? " 

" I will tell you why, Sergeant," I then replied, '' and 
the best of reasons is that I had not his leave, and as 
there are no witnesses here, you can't use what I am 
going to say against me. You want me to accuse my 
Sergeant-major so as to get him reduced in rank, because 
you hope to be appointed in his stead. None but a man 
as mean as you are would try that sort of game. You 
can do what you like, but I shall merely repeat what I 
told you just now, and I once more want you to under- 
stand that I had no leave whatever, and that my Ser- 
geant-major knew nothing about my going to Paris. Now 
do your worst." 

'' Oh," he said, ** I wanted to do you a good turn, and 
that's how you take it. You will see what it will cost 
you ! I shall report the matter at once to the Captain." 

He was as good as his word, and in the afternoon the 
Captain turned up at the barracks and sent for me. 

" I thought some time ago, Decle," he said, " when you 
were doing your work with the squadron, that you were 
really trying to turn over a new leaf. I find, however, 
that, on the contrary, you are doing your best to get 
yourself sent to Biribi. What is the meaning of this 
story that I hear from de Cormet about your having gone 
to Paris in ridiculous civilian attire, and with the com- 
plicity of your Sergeant-major? I have spoken to the 
latter, w^ho is naturally most indignant, and I am not sure 
that I shall not have you court-martialled for having base- 
Iv made a false accusation against one of your supe- 
riors." 

" I have not accused my Sergeant-major, sir," I indig- 

245 



TROOPER 3809 

nantly replied, " though I' was asked to do so by the Ser- 
geant " 

" No further accusations ! " interrupted the Captain 
with severity. 

" Sir," I continued, '' I do not know what Sergeant de 
Cormet may have told you ; but, if you will allow me, I 
will repeat to you what I told him, ^nd freely confess 
all that I have done." 

I thereupon once more repeated the story we had con- 
cocted. 

*' But," cried the Captain, " Sergeant de Cormet dis- 
tinctly told me that you had tried to exculpate yourself 
by asserting that you went to Paris with your Sergeant- 
major's leave ! " 

" I swear to you upon my honour that I never said so, 
sir ! " I replied. 

The Captain then sent for de Cormet, and told him 
that I denied having tried to excuse myself by alleging 
that I had permission from the Sergeant-major. 

'' Didn't you tell me," said de Cormet, *' that you were 
not reported missing on the Sunday because you had 
leave from your Sergeant-major?" 

" Certainly," I replied ; " I was excused by him from 
attending stables, but I distinctly told you that I had no 
other leave : you know it quite well. Sergeant, as you " 

" Oh," quickly interrupted de Cormet, addressing the 
Captain, '' I suppose, sir, that I misunderstood what Deck 
told me." 

'' But didn't he tell you," replied the Captain, " how 
he deceived the Sergeant of the Week by making a sham 
figure in his bed ? " 

" Yes, sir, I remember now," said de Cormet quietly. 

" I am afraid that you were too kind to Decle," said 
the Captain, " and that you wanted to save him from a 

246 



TROOPER 3809 

severe punishment, and it did not strike you that if I had 
found out that Sergeant-major Vaillant had given him 
leave I would unhesitatingly have asked the Colonel to 
reduce him to the rank of Sergeant. As to Decle, I will 
begin by giving him four days' prison, and I will draw 
up a report at once, which you will take to the Colonel." 

I had to hand the whole of my kit to the Sergeant 
fourrier, and was then led to the prison. The Adjudant 
came to inform me, later on, that the Colonel had altered 
my punishment to eight days' prison and eight days' cells 
in solitary confinement. All punishments have to be ac- 
companied by an explanation, show^ing the reasons why 
the punishment has been inflicted, and in all cases in- 
volving prison the punishment has to be reported to the 
Major-general in command of the brigade to which the 
regiment belongs. Here are the reasons for my punish- 
ment as they appeared in the Regimental Orders of the 
day: — 

'* The trooper Decle," said the Colonel in the Regimen- 
tal Orders, '' will be punished with eight days' prison, 
and eight days' cells, for having infamously deceived the 
Sergeant of the Week by making a dummy in his bed — 
for having gone to Paris without leave in civilian clothes 
and in disguise — and for having, notwithstanding the 
orders previously issued, applied to his Sergeant-major 
for leave not to attend stables instead of demanding such 
leave from the Sergeant in chars^e of the Volontaircs; for 
having further deceived the Sergeant of the Week in 
getting another trooper to make a dummy in his bed, 
and for having returned to barracks over the wall. This 
trooper is warned that unless he amends soon his con- 
duct the Colonel will be under the painful necessity of 
sending him before a Conseil de discipline." (See 

P- 32.) 

247 



TROOPER 3809 

When the Adjiidant came to communicate this order 
to me he promised that he would not let me be put in 
solitary confinement, but that I should spend the fort- 
night over which my punishment extended in the com- 
mon prison. He also promised to give orders that a 
steak should be brought to me from the canteen and 
placed on the top of my daily rations. He added that as 
he was being relieved from duty that day he would recom- 
mend me to the other Adjiidants, and that my punish- 
ment would begin with prison, so that when he took " the 
week " again on the next Monday he could see about 
arranging that I should not be put in solitary confine- 
ment. The worst consequence of the punishment I had 
just received was that it prevented me from entertaining 
any hope of being released from active military service 
after the first examination of the Volontaires, and I knew 
that in future I should be treated still more harshly than 
before. 

I was chiefly indignant with Corporal Lormand. To 
think that a schoolfellow of mine, who professed to be 
my friend, who had accepted luncheon from me the previ- 
ous day, could have been mean enough to denounce me ! 
To think that, although he had gone to Paris without 
leave, in civilian attire, like myself, he was not punished, 
but congratulated by the Captain for having " given me 
away " ! All this made me ask myself whether such a 
thing as common justice existed in the French army. 

I have seen a great deal of the world since. Years have 
elapsed since all this happened, but from all I have heard 
from young fellows who have served their time but re- 
cently, the system is still just the same. The bullying 
of privates by Corporals and Sergeants is as bad as in 
my time, the officers are jealous of each other, and, in- 

248 



TROOPER 3809 

stead of encouraging privates so as to make them love 
their metier, they plot and scheme to get promotion, while 
the Corporals and Sergeants chiefly strive to find or 
manufacture defaulters, well knowing that by so doing 
they will attract their chiefs' attention, and thus get ad- 
vancement. 



249 



CHAPTER XV 

When I was sent to prison there were four other troopers 
undergoing a similar punishment, but I did not see any- 
thing of them until the call for '' Soup," as they were 
kept out all day on fatigue duty and punishment drill. 
Before they returned the Adjudant came again to see me, 
and advised me to go to the medical visit the following 
morning. He told me that he had seen the doctor, and 
laid my case before him, and that the doctor had promised 
to exempt me from punishment drill and from fatigue 
duty. He sent me too, at my request, some paper and 
ink, and all the books we had to study for our examina- 
tions. I had also smuggled into the prison Conway's ad- 
mirable little guide-book to the highest peaks of the chain 
of Monte Rosa, which I meant to translate into French 
to while away the time. I also went with the Corporal of 
the Guard to fetch a straw mattress and a blanket, to 
which, as previously explained, a prisoner is entitled. In 
the evening I asked the Corporal of the Guard to put my 
name down for the medical visit of the next morning. 

When the other prisoners returned for their dinner, they 
were much astonished to find a Volontaire as their com- 
panion. Most of them were undergoing prison for hav- 
ing tire une hordcc (having been absent without leave 
during five days, and having remained away up to the 
very last limit they could reach without being proclaimed 
deserters). These men were thoroughly bad characters, 
and very different from Titi and Piatte, who were mere 

250 



TROOPER 3809 

dare-devils ; for Titi himself, though he had been in 
prison several times before he joined the regiment, had 
never been convicted for anything worse than street broils. 
The awful life of immorality he had led before coming 
to the regiment was due chiefly to the surroundings among 
which he had been brought up, but notwithstanding his 
failings, the fellow would never have committed a theft, 
and I would not have hesitated to trust him with any 
amount of money. My present prison companions, how- 
ever, were of a very different type. None of them, it is 
true, had been convicted before joining the army, but I 
soon gathered from their conversation that it was through 
sheer luck that they had escaped so far. Of course, as I 
was a common trooper like them, and in prison, they spoke 
quite openly of their past life before me, and even bragged 
of their misdeeds pour nicpater. One of them, the fellow 
who had received so severe a punishment from his com- 
rades when he was thrashed and tossed in a blanket in 
the riding-school, had never ceased to speak of the treat- 
ment he had received, and he used to swear that if, when 
his time was out, he ever came across one of his assailants, 
he would put a knife into him. 

While we were eating our food he returned once more 
to the subject, and when I told him not to brag so much 
about what he would dp, he got quite indignant. 

'' You don't believe me, old chap," he exclaimed ; 
" why, don't imagine that it would be the first time ! 
Many are the times when I have choiirinc (stabbed) a 
bloke. Me and two others we were for a long time in 
les boulevards extcricnrs (a part of Paris which at that 
time was still most dangerous), and a pretty good haul 
we sometimes made. I remember once an old woman 
was going home late at night — we knew her well — she 
owned a good lot of property, and she had been to collect 

251 



TROOPER 3809 

her rents that day. One of us followed her the whole 
day, and in the evening he came to tell us that she had 
gone to dinner with her daughter. You bet, we kept a 
lookout for her. At ten o'clock, sure enough, there she 
comes. The sergots had just turned up a side-street to 
make their rounds, and we knew that the coast would be 
clear for at least a quarter of an hour. We hid in a door- 
way, and as she passed us Bibi le Mufle jumps on her 
from behind, while the other chap who was with me 
lands her one in the mouth. We laid her on the ground, 
and I was searching her pocket when she begins to kick 
up the devil's own row, and shouts ' Murder ! Police ! ' 
I couldn't find anything in her pockets, and just then a 
bloke who had heard her giving tongue comes along, 
and he begins shouting ' Police ! Murder! ' ' Oh,' I says, 
* ril soon give him murder.' What does a bloke de- 
serve who comes and interferes with gentlemen at their 
business ? So I rush at him and I soon stopped his howl- 
ing with a jab from my Eustace (slang word used for 
big knife). The others, who were busy searching the 
old woman, never noticed the police who had come round, 
and although I shouted to warn them that ' les pantes ' 
(the police) were coming, they couldn't make tracks in 
time. Bibi le Mufle tried to run away, but unfortunately 
he fell over my bloke, and they collared him there. They 
accused him of having done for the chap, but he swore 
that it wasn't true. The old woman recovered, and so 
did the bloke, and you'd never guess what that man did. 
He swore that it was Bibi le Mufle who had stabbed him. 
And the old woman, who was stupid-like when she re- 
covered, swore that only two chaps had attacked her. The 
others behaved like bricks, they never gave me away, 
and so I got up a collection to get them a good counsel, 
and they only got three years ; so you see, old chap, I 

252 



TROOPER 3809 

am not afraid to use my knife, and I swear to God that 
some day or other I'll have the life of one of them chaps 
who knocked me about as they have, and, what's more," 
he concluded, '' fen ai soupe du regiment (I am sick of the 
regiment), and I mean to make a clean bolt of it the mo- 
ment I get out of prison." 

It will be seen that my prison companions were not 
very desirable acquaintances. 

When I went to the medical visit the following morn- 
ing, the doctor took me apart, and asked me to tell him 
exactly what I had done to be treated with such extreme 
severity. I began to tell him the same story as I had told 
my Captain, but he stopped me. 

" I know," he said, " that you are humbugging me. I 
heard part of the truth from your Sergeant-major, and 
you may trust to my word that whatever you tell me will 
go no further." 

I therefore told him exactly what had happened, and 
the part Sergeant de Cormet had played. 

The doctor replied that it looked as if my Sergeant 
meant to drive me to do something desperate, and he added 
that he was determined to put a stop to it. He had 
already given special orders excusing me from fatigue 
duty and punishment drill, and at my request he also 
ordered that an extra blanket should be given me. He 
added that he was disgusted at the way in which I was 
being treated, that my constitution was being ruined by 
the harsh treatment I was subjected to, and that he con- 
sidered that I was unfit for service under such conditions. 

When I returned to prison my fellow-prisoners were 
doing punishment drill in the barrack-yard, and I felt 
glad to be rid of their company for the time being. I 
was busy all day translating Conway's book, and the time 
passed almost pleasantly, as I had at least nobody to 

253 



TROOPER 3809 

bully me. The following day was Sunday, and my fel- 
low-prisoners were only taken out in the morning, so 
that their society was inflicted upon me the whole day. 
De Lanoy, who was on guard that day, came to pay me 
a visit, and took me into the corridor leading into the 
prison to have a chat with me. I heard some startling 
news from him — how two Sergeants who had just re- 
enlisted and received their premium of £24 had deserted, 
as also had two or three troopers. He brought me a 
novel, and advised me to cut off the strings of the bind- 
ing and to hide the bulk of it inside a loaf of bread, 
keeping out only a dozen pages at a time, so that in case 
the Captain of the Week should visit the prison I could 
hide these pages inside my shirt, and should they be 
discovered by the officer I could say that it was waste 
paper. His advice proved excellent, as that very after- 
noon the Major came to visit the prison. He inquired 
what all the books I had were, and I replied that they 
were the regulation books we had to study, and that I 
had been allowed to bring them into prison so as not 
to waste my time. I had carefully hidden in a dark 
corner Conway's little book and inserted the pages of 
my translation into my blotting-pad, so that I was not 
found out. The Major felt me all over, and made me 
produce the paper inside my shirt, but seeing only a few 
loose leaves he did not take any more notice of it. 

During the night Piatte and Titi were marched into the 
place. When the door had been closed upon them a 
candle was lit, and Titi embraced me with transports of 
joy, being evidently in high spirits. 

" Ah, what fun, old fellow ! " he cried out. '' It's too 
funny, you know." 

** What have you been up to again ? " I asked. 

Piatte, who was also roaring with laughter, said, " Pll 

254 



TROOPER 3809 

show you." He was In full uniform, and proceeded to 
take off his tunic, an example which was followed by 
Titi. When they had removed their garments I saw to 
my amazement that they were both dressed in acrobatic 
fleshings. 

I could not help laughing, and asked what on earth it 
meant. 

" Well," said Titi, " we both got midnight leave, and 
as a fair was going on we thought we would go and have 
a look round. We soon came across a big tent. 'Twas 
the wrestlers' place, and so I says to Piatte, * Let's go in.' 
It only cost 50 centimes for the first rows, and in we 
went. They were not a grand lot, you know, these chaps, 
and Piatte says to me, ' Why, I could knock any one of 
them down with one hand.' ' Oh,' I says, ' I don't say 
that I would do it with one hand, but I would jolly well 
manage to bowl over any one of the boiling.' Just then 
the boss steps into the middle of the ring and says, hold- 
ing a basket full of live-franc pieces, ' Now, gentlemen, 
if there is any one among you who would like to back 
himself against me, I'll undertake, if he manages to down 
me, to hand over to him the contents of this here basket 
— one hundred francs ! ' . . . Nobody moved, so I says 
to Piatte, * Shall we have a go ? ' But Piatte, he says, 
' Oh, we can't go in uniform.' So I says, ' I'll soon settle 
that,' and I went behind the tent, and I tell one of the chaps 
to call the Guv'nor. ' Look here,' I said, ' did you mean 
what you said just now? ' * I did,' says the boss. ' Well, 
then, there's my chum and me, v/e'd both like to have a 
try, but you see this is how things stand — we can't wrestle 
in uniform, but if you will lend us a costume we are 
game.' 

" ' Oh,' says the Guv'nor, ' I can do that, but if so, I can 
only give you twenty-five francs if you downs me, and 

T ;r C 



TROOPER 3809 

In case you don't, you will have to deposit five francs for 
the loan of the costume.' 

" Piatte says he is quite game, but the Guv'nor must 
make it five francs for the two. He agrees to this, and 
he takes us to his caravan, where we change our things. 
While we are doing this, the Guv'nor he had gone back 
to the ring, and announced that two distinguished ammy- 
toors had accepted the challenge, he also goes to the out- 
side of his shanty and shouts out, ' There's going to be 
a grand match of ammytoors versus professionals ! ' 

" At the end of a few minutes he comes and calls us. 
* Of course,' he says, ' you can't both come on at the same 
time — which one of you will come first ? ' 

" * ril go first,' Piatte says. 

'* ' By gad,' the Guv'nor then exclaims, as Piatte got 
up from the corner where he was sitting. ' By gad, you 
ain't much of a show in uniform, but you are a strappin' un 
in fleshings. Too heavy a bit, and clumsy-like, but you 
are the kind of chap I like to measure myself with.' So 
they goes to the ring, and the Guv'nor presents Piatte as 
the distinguished ammytoor who is going to have a go. 
Piatte makes his bow to the spectators, and the fun begins. 
I watched it from a chink in the tent. At first I didn't 
like the look of things. He was a fine chap the Guv'nor, 
and he was on his mettle ; he had got scientific ways too, 
which told heavily on Piatte, but for all that he did not 
last long, and Piatte felled his man. The crowd got mad 
like at seeing the Guv'nor fairly beaten, and they gave 
Piatte a real ovation. Piatte, business-like, he catches 
hold of a hat, and makes a collection among the spectators. 
He got fifteen francs, my boy, and with the twenty-five 
francs he had won, that made forty. Now came my turn, 
but when I was brought into the ring and presented to 
the ladies and gentlemen, I noticed two of our Lieutenants 

256 



TROOPER 3809 

and a Captain who marches in just then. I couldn't go 
away, but I says to myself that they will never recognise 
me, and we begin to wrestle. The Guv'nor was tired, and 
he matched me with another chap. My boy, 'twas a 
fight ! It lasted more than twenty minutes, but at last I 
downed my man, downed him straight and square, and 
laid him on the tvv^o shoulders. When he gets up, the 
Guv'nor, who felt sick like at having lost his money, shouts 

* Foul ! ' All the spectators took my part, and the officers 
got quite excited, and said he would have to pay the 
money whether he liked or not. Piatte, whose blood was 
up, he jumped into the ring and threatened to go for the 
Guv'nor if he didn't fork out at once. Seeing how things 
stood, the Guv'nor says as he'll abide by the decision of 
the officers, so they jump into the ring. They hadn't 
recognised me or Piatte up to then, and it was only when 
one of them comes near me to tell me that Fm in the 
right, that he stops suddenly, and stares at me, and cries, 

* Why ! you're a Dragoon ! ' 

** I was so taken aback that at first I didn't know what 
to say, but seeing that none of the officers belonged to our 
squadron, I said at last, quite bold like, ' Dragoon! sir! 
You're making a mistake.' 

'' The officer, a Lieutenant, then turns to the Captain 
and the other Lieutenant, and says, ' Why, look, this 
chap's a Dragoon ! ' 

" ' D — d good fellow, if he is,' said the other Lieuten- 
ant. 

'' ' Maybe,' says the Captain, ' but we can't have him 
disgracing his uniform in this way.' He then whispered 
something to the Lieutenants, and while they were talk- 
ing, Piatte sneaked out and went to dress. I slipped off 
too, but the Captain followed me and caught me up at the 
steps of the caravan. 

257 



TROOPER 3809 

" ' It is thus then/ he said, ' that you disgrace your uni- 
form.' 

'' ' Beg your pardon, sir,' I says, ' but I didn't disgrace 
my uniform, for I had no uniform on.' It was a pity I 
said that, because it made the Captain real mad. 

'' ' You have the impertinence to reply ! ' he then cries 
out ; ' I had come here only to lecture you, but as you 
dare answer me I'll punish you. You will have eight 
days' Salic dc Police for having exhibited yourselves in 
public in a disgraceful way.' Just then he caught sight of 
Piatte. * Hallo ! here's another one ! ' he says. ' You 
shall have eight days, too.' 

" ' Well, sir,' I says, ' if you will just allov/ me to say so, 
it was me who answered you, and I didn't mean any im- 
pertinence, but if you remember, you said that you only 
wanted to give me a lecture, and 'twas only because I an- 
swered you that you punished me, so would you mind only 
punishing me, because Piatte there never answered any- 
thing.' 

" * You are a plucky one,' said the Captain, ' and a good 
comrade, but I am sorry that I can't do what you ask me. 
You both have been guilty of the same offence, and you 
must both be punished, but I'll reduce your punishment 
to four days' Salic dc Police.'' 

" He then wrote something on a card, and told me to 
give it to the Sergeant of the Guard. 'Twas an order to 
put us in the lock-up there and then, and you see we had 
dressed in such a hurry that we forgot to take off our 
fleshings, and when the Guv'nor came to ask for them, 
the Captain, who had waited until we were dressed, told 
us to go straight to barracks as we were, and I told the 
Guv'nor that he would get back his fleshings when he had 
paid us the 50 francs he owed us. But it was rare fun, my 
boy," concluded Titi. 

258 



TROOPER 3809 

The following day Titi and Piatte were brought back to 
the cells at eleven o'clock in the morning, the Colonel hav- 
ing upon the Captain's report altered their punishment 
into fifteen days' prison. 

During the next few days the Sallc dc Police was so 
crowded at night that, with the exception of the seven 
prisoners, each of whom had a straw mattress and thus his 
place marked out, the troopers were so crammed together 
that they had to lie down on the planks huddled together 
like herrings in a box. 

I had already been twelve days in prison when I began 
to feel extremely ill. I was suffering from fever and 
dysentery, probably due to the vitiated air of the place, 
and it is a wonder to me now how we all escaped typhoid 
fever. I asked for the doctor, and when he had examined 
me, he gave orders that I should be immediately removed 
to hospital, where I was detained for a fortnight before I 
recovered. 

In February came the usual examination, after which 
the Captain told me that he had hoped to be able to dis- 
charge me from the service then, but that my behaviour 
prevented his doing so. I need not describe for a second 
time the drudgery of our daily work, which was a mere 
repetition of what I had gone through the previous year. 
De Cormet never allowed a week to pass without sending 
me to the Sallc dc Police on some pretext or other. Lieu- 
tenant Amy had also taken a great dislike to me, but I am 
bound to confess that he never punished me except on 
one occasion. It was during the month of March ; I had 
been ordered to command the company, and I had to get 
executed the movement of " Shoulder arms." I was re- 
citing the theory, and explaining the movement as stated 
in the regulations, when Sergeant de Cormet interrupted 
me in the middle of my explanation, and told me that I 

259 



TROOPER 3809 

was wrong. He made me begin again, and when I once 
more reached the passage where he had interrupted me, 
he asked why I altered the text of the regulations. I replied 
that I did so because the previous year Sergeant Legros 
had made us alter the passage, and had made us learn it 
as I was then reciting it. '' So," cried out de Cormet, 
" now you take it upon yourself to alter the regulations 
which have been drawn up by the highest authorities in 
the army ! " 

" No, Sergeant," I said, " I have not taken it upon my- 
self, but was told to do so." 

'' Don't tell lies," retorted the Sergeant ; " you will have 
four days' Salle dc Police for not knowing your theory." 

'' But, Sergeant," I said, " you can inquire from Ser- 
geant-major Legros whether I am telling you the truth or 
not." 

" You dare answer ! " shouted the Sergeant. Just then 
Lieutenant Amy came along, and, hearing a row, inquired 
what was the matter. " It's Decle, of course, sir," de Cor- 
met told him. 

" What has he done ? " queried the Lieutenant. 

" The gentleman finds that the regulations are not cor- 
rect, and he takes it upon himself to correct them, and has 
the impertinence to answer me that they are written in bad 
French." 

'' I am sick of the fellow," replied the Lieutenant ; " are 
you mad, Decle? " he asked. 

" No, sir," I answered very calmly, *' and I wish to ob- 
serve that Sergeant de Cormet has not correctly reported 
what I just now said to him." 

" You scoundrel ! " exclaimed the Lieutenant. " You 
have the impudence to tell me that your Sergeant is a 
liar! You will have four days' prison." I knew by ex- 
perience that to complain, or appeal to the Colonel, would 

260 



TROOPER 3809 

only mean an increase of my punishment, and I therefore 
quietly prepared myself to go to prison when I returned 
to barracks. The overcrowding of the Salle dc Police had 
become so great by that time that a special lock-up was 
used for the prisoners, which was similar to the Salle, but 
much smaller. I had once more Titi for a companion, as 
he had been up to some more tricks, and he was waiting 
his trial before Couscil de discipline, which had been con- 
vened to decide whether he should be sent to a punishment 
battalion in Africa to finish his time of service there. He 
didn't feel much depressed at the idea. '' It will be a 
change, old chap," he used to say to me, " and I don't 
suppose that I shall be bullied there more than I am here ; 
besides, I have only one year and a half more to serve, and 
that will soon be over." It was this fact which saved him, 
and he was acquitted by a majority of one, although the 
General bestowed sixty days' prison on him for his last 
prank. (He had for the third time absconded for five 
days.) 

I had taken Conway's book to the prison, in order to 
finish its translation, and only ten pages more were left, 
w^hen one of the Majors happened to walk in. The door 
stood open to admit the trooper who was bringing our 
food, and I had no time to put away my MS. The Major 
pounced upon it. '' That's how you occupy your time," 
he said ; " give me all those papers." I had to hand them 
over to him, and he tore them up and chucked the pieces 
into the slop-pail. So ended my first literary attempt. 

The four days I spent in prison, coupled with the moral 
state of despair into which I had fallen, had pretty well 
broken me down in health. I sufifered from incessant 
headaches and rheumatic pains, and I had to be sent to 
hospital once more on coming out of prison. 

All my thoughts were by that time concentrated upon 

261 



TROOPER 3809 

devising some means of leaving the hell the regiment had 
become to me. Desertion was out of the question, not 
that it would have been difficult for me to pass into Bel- 
gium, or cross over to England, but I had too much 
respect for myself and my family to turn a common 
deserter. 



262 



CHAPTER XVI 

I HAVE omitted to mention that in compliance with the 
regulations I had been obliged before being taken to the 
prison to hand over to my Sergeant-major whatever 
money or jewellery I had at the time. Accordingly I 
handed over to Sergeant-major Vaillant my gold watch 
and chain, £30 in bank-notes, and two valuable rings, only 
keeping with me a few pounds in gold and silver, which 
I carefully hid. The day before I was to leave prison, the 
Sergeant-major came to see me, and explained that as he 
was going away on leave he wanted to give me back my 
belongings. This he did, and he further reminded me that 
he owed me a long-standing gambling debt of £5, and 
this he also handed over to me. He added that he might 
be a long time away, and that I could render him a great 
service by lending him some civilian clothes. He had 
allowed me to keep in his room a suit of clothes and an 
overcoat, and I told him that he was very welcome to them. 
I also offered to lend him some money, and suggested his 
paying me the gambling debt on his return ; but he ab- 
solutely refused to accept either offer. He then bade 
me good-bye, and I thought no more of the matter until 
a week later, when de Lanoy having come to see me in hos- 
pital, startled me by saying that Sergeant-major Vaillant 
had deserted, having absconded the day before I left pris- 
on, and that he was further accused by the Captain of 
having stolen 31 francs from the monies belonging to 
the squadron. I assured de Lanoy that it was quite impos- 

263 



TROOPER 3809 

sible that Valllant should have stolen the money, and I 
told him hov/ he had repaid me the large amount I had en- 
trusted him with, and even £5 that he owed me, and de 
Lanoy agreed with me that if 32 francs (about 25^.) was 
missing from the squadron money it was a pure mistake, 
and not a theft. The following day Captain Hermann, 
who, as will be remembered, was in command of our 
squadron, came to the hospital and walked to my bed. 

" I am afraid, Decle," he began, ** that 3^ou are going 
to find yourself in Queer Street. You probably know 
that Sergeant-major Vaillant has deserted, but I should 
like to know if you are aware that he has run off with 
money belonging to the squadron, and that he has further 
stolen your civilian clothes ? " 

** Yes, sir," I said, '' I heard that Sergeant-major Vail- 
lant had deserted ; but he has not stolen my clothes, for 
the good reason that I lent them to him ; and I don't 
believe either that he has stolen any money from the 
squadron." 

" Just so," said the Captain ; " what you have told me 
fully confirms my information. You have helped the 
Sergeant-major to desert, and you have given him £30 to 
help him to do so." 

I grew indignant. '' I do not know, sir," I replied, 
'* where you derived your information from. Far from 
having received money from me, the Sergeant-major came 
to me while I was in prison and returned the £30 I had 
entrusted him with, together with my jewellery, when I 
was sent to prison, so that you see that you have been quite 
misinformed." 

" It's all very well for you to say so," replied the 
Captain, " but I have only your word for it, while I have 
distinct information that you lent him £30, and that further 
he stole your clothes, and that you did not lend them to 

264 



TROOPER 3809 

liim. Of course you must remember that if it is proved 
that you lent the Sergeant-major the money I have men- 
tioned, you will be court-martialled as an accessory to 
his desertion. If you want, however, to avoid the serious 
consequences of your act, I am prepared to overlook it 
provided that you swear that Sergeant-major Vaillant has^ 
stolen your clothes." 

" I am sorry I cannot do so, sir," I replied, '' as that 
would be committing perjury. I have previously lent the 
Sergeant-major my clothes on several occasions, and I 
also lent them to him in the present instance. As to being 
court-martialled for having lent him £30, I am in no way 
afraid of the consequences, for I can prove by my solici- 
tor's account that I did not lend him the money, unless 
I stole it myself. In fact," I added, " I can produce at 
once the very bank-notes he handed over to me." And 
so saying, I pulled my pocket-book from under the pillow, 
and showed the Captain the money. 

" Oh," he said, '' I know you've got money, but that 
does not prove that you did not lend the £30. However, 
you can please yourself; I have warned you, and what- 
ever happens will be your own fault." 

'' Yes, sir," I answered, " I fully understand." 

The Captain retired, but a quarter of an hour later he 
returned and insisted upon my swearing that the Sergeant- 
major had stolen my clothes. He even went so far as to 
promise me, or at least to make me understand, that if 
I pleased him in the matter, he would see that I was 
released from the regiment after the following examina- 
tion. But I was obdurate, and frankly told the Captain 
that I quite understood his motives, and realised why he 
was so anxious that I should give testimony as to the theft 
of my clothes, for otherwise he would not be able to ob- 
tain Vaillant's extradition from whatever country he 

265 



TROOPER 3809 

might have taken refuge in, and I once more declared 
that whatever might be the consequences I would not com- 
mit perjury. 

The Captain retired in great wrath. The following day 
the doctor told me that I would have to be at the gendar- 
merie at two o'clock. 

When I arrived there I found an old Corporal of the 
gendarmes sitting at a table, with another gendarme 
standing near him. He asked for my name, regimental 
number, and, as usual in France, I had also to give him 
full particulars about my father and mother. Having 
taken all this down, he told me to put up my right hand, 
and to swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. 
Having thus administered the oath to me he began to 
question me. 

" You had a suit of civilian clothes? " he first asked. 

" Well," I replied, " I had, and still have, a good 
many." 

'' Why do you have a good many ? " 

*' Because I did not always wear the same suit." 

*' But you had a suit ol clothes which has been stolen 
from you by the Sergeant-major Vaillant? " 

" No," I said, '' I have had no suit of clothes stolen 
from me. I lent Sergeant-major Vaillant a suit of 
clothes, if that is what you are driving at." 

" What ! " exclaimed the gendarme, evidently much 
astonished, '' how can you say that Sergeant-major Vail- 
lant did not steal a suit of clothes from you when your 
Captain says he did ! " 

" I don't know what the Captain says," I replied, " and 
what he says does not concern me. I am here on my 
oath, I have sworn to tell the truth, and all you have to 
do is to take down my words." 

*' What am I to do ? " said the old Corporal, turning 

266 



TROOPER 3809 

helplessly to his subordinate. " This is a most serious 
matter. How on earth can I write down that a Dragoon 
swears that he has had no clothes stolen when his Cap- 
tain says they have been stolen ! That is what discipline 
has come to nowadays," he went on. " When I was in 
the Guards, if my Captain had said to me, ' Bouchard, 
some one has stolen your clothes,' I should have said, 
' Yes, sir ! ' But now, if the Colonel himself were to say 
to a trooper, ' You're a nigger,' the fellow would reply 
that he was a white man. And these are the men who 
are going to lick the Prussians ! It breaks my old heart 
to see such goings on." 

'' Corporal," I insisted, '' whether you like it or not you 
will have to write down what I say. If you won't I shall 
decline to sign the declaration, and shall state in writing 
the reason for my refusal." 

" I think you had better take down what he says," 
suggested the gendarme, and the Corporal, with a sigh, 
proceeded, to write out my deposition. 

I gave a full account of all I knew about the matter, 
pointing out that my Sergeant-major had, before leaving, 
returned a large sum of money I had entrusted to him ; 
finally, having read my deposition through carefully, I 
signed it. 

When the old gendarme learned incidentally that I had 
been in prison, he turned to his subordinate and cried 
exultingly, " Of course he has ! Of course ! I knew all 
along he was a bad un ! " 

And after I had signed the declaration he could not 
refrain from a farewell shot. " Now, youngster," he 
said impressively, " mark my words, for I don't make a 
mistake often — you'll come to a bad end. It's always the 
case with fellows who don't respect their betters. You 
begin with the regimental prison ; then, when your time 

267 



TROOPER 3809 

is up, you soon get a month or two, then a year, and it's 
not long before you are sent to La Nouvelle,* and, if you 
don't get a ' Hfer,' it's ten to one ' The Widow 'f ends 
your days." 

With these encouraging words the gendarme dismissed 
me, and the Sergeant took me back to the hospital, chaff- 
ing me unmercifully all the way. 

I soon discovered that the Captain had only threatened 
me with a court-martial in order to try and induce me to 
place documents in his hands which would enable him to 
obtain an extradition warrant against Vaillant, who was 
known to have taken refuge in Belgium. My deposition 
defeated his object, but I afterwards heard that two years 
later Vaillant surrendered, and was only sentenced to 
twelve months' imprisonment. 

The charge against him of stealing money belonging 
to the squadron was withdrawn, my testimony showing 
that he had no inducement to commit a petty theft. 

When I left the hospital I entered once more on my 
duties with the other Volontaires, but although I did my 
best to avoid punishments, I was a " marked man." T 
had the misfortune too of being senior Volontaire, so that 
whenever we were left without Ser^-eant or Corporal in 
the schoolroom I was held responsible in case the others 
caused a disturbance or indulged in horseplay. 

One Saturday — kit inspection dav — T discovered, when 
T returned from the stables in the morning, that my great- 
coat had been stolen. It was the only article of outfit of 
which I had no duplicate, and after searching for it 
throughout the room T could not find it. I reported the 
matter to de Lanoy, my Sergeant, and he promised that 

* New Caledonia, where convicts sentenced to travaux fords (penal 
servitude) are sent, 
t The guillotine, 

268 



TROOPER 3809 

when all the great-coats were unrolled before the in- 
spection he would carefully examine the numbers. Al- 
though he did this he was, however, unable to trace it. 
When the officer came to pass the inspection, de Lanoy 
duly reported the matter to him, but the Lieutenant mere- 
ly said that I had no business to have my great-coat 
stolen, and gave me eight days' Salic de Police. I was 
determined to find the thief, and after making careful 
inquiries, I learnt by accident that a trooper from the 
fourth squadron had been through our room vv'hile we 
were at morning stables. I heard this while we were 
coming back from afternoon stables, and I accordingly 
rushed to the fellow's room, and pulling down the great- 
coat which was rolled up and placed on the shelf above 
his bed, I unrolled it, and found that it was my own. 
Just then the trooper, a Parisian rough, came into the 
room, and asked me with a volley of oaths what the devil 
I was doing there. I was in no mood to stand abuse, 
and I replied in forcible language that he was a thief, 
and had stolen my great-coat. Thereupon he struck at 
me, and we had a fierce fight. Twice he knocked me 
down, and the second time he kicked me viciously before 
I could rise : we had closed once more, and I had given 
him a blow which made his teeth rattle, when the Ser- 
geant-major of his squadron, hearing the disturbance, 
walked into the room. He separated us, and gave each 
of us four days' Salle de Police for fighting in the room. 
I tried to explain to him what had taken place, but he 
would not listen to me, and sent me back to my room, 
wdiere I retired — with my great-coat. 

The following day the Colonel ordered " that the troop- 
ers Gerbal and Decle, who had fought in the room, would 
fight a duel on the Monday morning in the riding-school." 

I have omitted to mention that all troopers at the end 

269 



TROOPER 3809 

of six months had to spend one hour every week in the 
fencing school, where they were taught fencing with the 
sword and the foils. A good many of the Volontaircs 
used also to take extra lessons, and, for my own part, I 
used to take one daily. The moment I heard that I was 
to fight a duel on the following day, I went to the fencing- 
master to ask his advice. He told me that we should have 
to fight with cavalry swords, not, however, of the kind 
we were accustomed to use, but with old-fashioned swords 
of the 1810 pattern. He produced one of these — I had 
never seen such an unwieldy weapon. The blade was 
about four feet long, and when you held the sword in 
your hand, it was so badly balanced that all the weight 
seemed to be thrown towards the point. The fencing- 
master explained to me that in regimental duels all strokes 
were legitimate from the head down to the knee. He 
then made me practise with the sword in question, but 
although I was a pretty good fencer, I confess that I was 
at first absolutely at sea with the weapon I had in my 
hand. In the evening I took an extra lesson, and got a 
little more accustomed to the use of the cumbrous sword. 
The encounter was to take place at 10 a.m. Each of 
us had selected a second, and we were told to come to 
the riding-school in stable costume, being allowed to use 
whatever shoes we liked. When I arrived with my sec- 
ond I found the two doctors present, with half a dozen 
officers and the fencing-master, who had brought the 
swords. We were told to strip to the waist, our weapons 
were handed over to us, and the fencing-master having 
put us on guard, stood between us, holding in his hand 
a scabbard with which he was supposed to stop any deadly 
stroke. My adversary was a regular bully, and of course 
a coward, and had imbibed a large quantity of brandy to 
brace himself up, and when we were placed in position 

270 



TROOPER 3809 

I noticed that he was flushed, and that he was shaklnc^ 
all over. His second, noticing the state he was in whis- 
pered to him, *' Buck up, old man ; don't be afraid." 

'* Afraid," he replied aloud, ** I ain't afraid : it's the 
cold that gives me the shivers." 

He was sharply rebuked and warned that he must re- 
main silent. The fencing-master then released our 
swords, which he held crossed, and gave us the signal 
" Go." I made a few feints and could have easily touched 
my opponent, but I meant to inflict a serious injury on the 
ruflian, and did not take advantage of the chances he 
gave me. The beginning of the duel was rather a farce, 
as the fellow kept jumping back whenever I made a feint, 
and at the end of a minute or two he had already re- 
treated ten paces. The fencing-master ordered us to 
stop, and warned him that if he went on retreating in that 
way he would stick him in a corner. We were then 
placed once more in position, and the second round be- 
gan. My adversary showed a little more pluck this time, 
and the moment the signal was given he made a cut at 
my head, but I easily parried it, and in doing so my sword 
slightly scratched his arm ; we had closed, and I was 
watching the moment when he would step back, to slip 
my sword alongside his and with a " une, dciix " to stick 
him in the ribs. Just then, however, his second noticed 
a drop of blood on his arm, and the duel was once more 
stopped. The doctor came forward to examine the 
" wound," but he declared that it was just a scratch, and 
that we must go on. My adversary raised strong objec- 
tions to this decision, saying that the duel being au pre- 
mier sang (to be stopped the moment blood was drawn), 
and blood having been drawn, he acknowledged that he 
was beaten, and that ought to put an end to it, as he was 
not at all keen to bleed me. The officers, the fencing- 

271 



TROOPER 3809 

master, and even his second could not help laughing, and 
the fencing-master, without replying, placed us once 
more in position, and for the third time gave us the sig- 
nal '' Go." I was getting very tired, the weight of the 
sword telling heavily on my wrist, and I determined to 
put a speedy end to the encounter. I made a series of 
quick feints, and as the man uncovered himself well I 
quickly raised my sword to strike him a coup dc flanc 
which would have cut him along the chest from the shoul- 
der to the waist ; seeing this the fencing-master put up his 
scabbard to stop the blow, and instead of striking the man 
my sword fell on the fencing-master's scabbard, and just 
as the fencing-master cried *' Halt ! " my adversary, taking 
advantage of my defenceless position, stuck the point of 
his sword in my wrist. The duel was at once stopped, 
and I dropped my sword, my fingers becoming instantly 
benumbed. 

The doctor bandaged my arm and sent me to the dis- 
pensary. It was of course a cowardly act, deliberately 
done, but the same thing constantly happens in military 
duels, and even when the two adversaries fight quite 
fairly. Good fencers have hardly any chance, as the 
fencing-master, who is responsible for the conduct of the 
duel, has to stop any strokes which may possibly endan- 
ger the life of one of the adversaries, and when he stops 
the sword of one of them, the other may not stop in time, 
and he thus wounds the first. In my case things were 
still worse, as my adversary had deliberately stuck me 
while I was incapable of defending myself, my sword 
resting on the fencing-master's scabbard. I must, how- 
ever, acknowledge that the officers who were present at 
the duel reported what had taken place, and the ruffian 
with whom I had been fighting was punished with thirty 
days' prison. Had I been fairly wounded I should have 

272 



TROOPER 3809 

had eight clays' Salle de Police myself for having fought 
a duel under orders, as in my time it was customary to 
punish the wounded man, absurd as this may appear. 

Military duels are certainly a most ridiculous custom, 
as ridiculous indeed as Parliamentary duels. It is well 
known beforehand that neither of the adversaries will be 
seriously hurt, and therefore the point of fighting at all 
seems obscure. The idea is, I believe, that duelling acts 
as a deterrent to fights between soldiers — Frenchmen, like 
most citizens of the other Continental nations, considering 
the use of fists a low and degrading way of settling a 
quarrel. Duels between officers are also frequent, but 
they can only fight if they hold the same rank; for in- 
stance, no Captain can fight a duel with a Lieutenant, nor 
can a Major challenge a Captain. Officers must in any 
case obtain their Colonel's leave to fight. No officer, 
challenged by one of his comrades, would dare to refuse 
to fight ; if he did so, he would probably be severely 
punished by the Colonel and sent to Coventry by his com- 
rades. 

When I reached the dispensary my wound was thor- 
oughly washed. It was only then that it began to hurt 
me ; when the sword penetrated my wrist I did not feel 
it in the least, the only sensation I had being that of sud- 
den numbness in the fingers. On examination the 
wound proved more serious than it had appeared at first,/ 
several of the tendons having been severed. I was there- 
fore detained at the infirmary, and after a couple of days 
inflammation set in, this being due, I believe, to the 
fact that during one of the stoppages which had occurred 
in the course of the duel my adversary had stuck his 
sword in the grovmd. It must also be remembered that 
antiseptics were not known then as they are now, so that 
my wound had only been washed with a solution of salt 

273 



TROOPER 3809 

and water. This duel (if such a name can be given to 
such a farce) was, I may add, the first and the last I ever 
fought or shall fight. It seems incredible that such an 
absurd custom should subsist among civilised nations. It 
is due, I suppose, to the lack of means of redress found 
in the Continental laws in case of slander or libel. In 
France, for instance, men in a prominent position are 
daily insulted and dragged through the mire by unscru- 
pulous journalists (some newspapers making it even a 
specialty to get hold of society scandals and subsisting 
upon the hush-money they extort from their victims), yet 
it is very seldom that action is taken in the courts. It is 
no exaggeration to say that there are hundreds of men 
in France who would each have recovered damages 
amounting to at least one million sterling if all the libels 
which have appeared against them in the French papers 
within the last ten years had been published in the Eng- 
lish press and brought before a British jury. As it is, 
£20 damages are considered very substantial. This may 
partly explain why duelling still exists. 



274 



CHAPTER XVII 

I HAD been a fortnight m the infirmary, when one morn- 
ing at lo o'clock one of the Sergeants of my squadron 
ordered me to dress in tunic and kepi, saying that he had 
received orders to take me before the Conscil. This word 
simply means court, and is applied to the Conscil dc dis- 
cipline (regimental court-martial) as well as to the Con- 
scil de re forme (Invalidation Commission), but I had 
by that time become so accustomed to threats of being 
sent before a regimental court-martial, that I could only 
think of that, and asked the Sergeant on what charge I 
was going to be tried. 

" I can't tell you," he replied, smiling. 

He was a friend of mine, and I thought him most heart- 
less to ridicule my trouble. In vain I asked him, while 
I was dressing, to explain what it meant, but he would 
not, and tortured me by asking in a jocular way how I 
would like a change of air and surroundings. At last I 
lost my temper. 

*' It's all very fine," I said, " to chaff a fellow when you 
know that he is going to be sent for three years and a 
half to hard labour in Algeria. You are simply a brute, 
that's all I can say." 

" But suppose I don't know anything of the kind? " he 
replied, still smiling. " Why do you think so ? " 

" Well, I suppose if I am going to be tried before the 

Conscil dc discipline " 

275 



TROOPER 3809 

" You ass ! " he laughingly replied ; '* who spoke to you 
of Conseil de discipline? Aren't there other Conseils? " 

I looked astonished. 

"Have you never heard of the Conseil de rcfonnef" 
(Invalidation Commission) he said. 

" You don't mean to say " 

" Yes/' he replied, '' I do mean to say that you are pro- 
posed for invalidation, and most likely you will cease to 
be a Dragoon this afternoon." 

My heart nearly stopped. The Corporal in charge of 
the infirmary came in at that moment (I had been put 
alone in a small ward of only two beds). 

'' You've heard the news ? " he said. 

I asked him how it had happened, and how I had not 
heard of it sooner. He proceeded to explain that, for the 
last two or three months past, our surgeon had meant to 
have me invalided, but that the Surgeon-major of the 
infantry, who was senior surgeon of the district, had al- 
ways scratched my name off the list, as he had taken a 
particular dislike to me, and also wished to spite our sur- 
geon, whom he hated. The previous day this infantry 
surgeon had been suddenly summoned to his mother's bed- 
side in the South of France, so that Surgeon-major Le- 
sage (our own surgeon) was in his absence the head of 
the medical service, and as such he had included me in the 
list of men proposed for invalidation. My joy knew no 
bounds, and my only fear was that the Commission would 
reject the proposal. 

I was taken to the hospital with five other Dragoons, 
and on arriving there we found half a dozen men from the 
Line regiment, who were also to be examined. 

At II A.M. the members of the Commission arrived, but 
we did not see them coming, as they entered the room 
where we were to be examined by another door. 

276 



TROOPER 3809 

At the end of a few minutes a Dragoon was called in ; 
he was the Breton of whom I spoke at the beginning of 
this book, who cried so bitterly at the thought of his cow. 
Since he had joined the regiment the poor fellow had grad- 
ually been sinking, and he was reduced to a mere skeleton. 
They did not keep him long, and when he came out he was 
laughing and crying hysterically. " Sergeant," he cried, 
*' oh. Sergeant, let me kiss you ! I am going to see her 
again, my cow, and the hens and the fields, the dear old 
house ! " 

He had put his arms round the Sergeant's neck, and was 
sobbing like a child on his shoulders. He then sat on one 
of the benches, and kept saying, " I should have died, you 
know, if they had not sent me home. It's the Blessed Vir- 
gin — she has heard my prayers ! I prayed so hard to her, 
and every Sunday I burnt a candle before her altar. I 
must go and thank her." 

He then asked the Sergeant to let him go to the church, 
but the latter said that he was not allowed to let him leave 
the hospital until the Commission had retired. 

'' Then I will thank her here ; she will hear all the 
same." And so saying the poor fellow knelt down and 
buried his head in his hands, muttering a prayer. It was 
so genuine, so simple, and yet so beautiful, that not a sin- 
gle one of those coarse soldiers assembled there thought 
of chaffing him, although he had been unmercifully de- 
rided for saying his prayers in the room at the barracks. 
, In the meantime two other men had been examined, 
the last one being sent back to his service. Then came 
the turn of a Volonfairc, a poor fellow whose knee-cap had 
been broken. Although the doctors were unanimous in 
declaring that he would not be able to zvalk at all for tzvo 
years, and although certificates from two of the greatest 
French surgeons, who had been sent by his family to 

277 



TROOPER 3809 

operate on him, were produced, stating that he would be 
lame for life, the Commission refused to invalid him ! 
When my turn came my heart was beating so fast that I- 
could hardly speak. 

One of our Majors presided over the Commission, of 
which the other members were two Captains and four 
Lieutenants. To my horror. Captain Hermann was one 
of them. Our Surgeon-major, assisted by the assistant 
Surgeon-major of the Line regiment, examined each 
man. 

I was presented by Surgeon-major Lesage : " This is 
Trooper Decle," ne said ; " he is absolutely unfit for ser- 
vice. He suffers from general weakness of constitution 
and heart palpitation." The other doctor examined my 
heart and confirmed my Surgeon-major's diagnosis. The 
assistant Surgeon-major said that he fully shared Sur- 
geon-major Lesage's views, and was absolutely in favour 
of my being invalided. 

*' I should like to listen to the fellow's heart myself," 
remarked the Major. 

" By all means," said the doctor, smiling, for he knew 
that the Major knew nothing of medicine. 

I stood beside the Major and he put his bald head 
against my chest. Of course my heart was beating furi- 
ously, as I was in a blue funk about the decision which 
would be arrived at. 

'' I would be sorry to exchange with him," growled the 
old Major, " he's a regular roarer." 

'' Well, gentlemen," said the Surgeon-major, " you have 
heard Major Vian confirm what I told you, and I will ask 
you to pronounce your decision." 

" Allow me to ask you first," said Captain Hermann, 
" whether the trooper could not do his service in the in- 
fantry ? " 

278 



TROOPER 3809 

'' I would not have him," repHed the infantry doctor. 

" But supposing we sent him into the transport ser- 
vice," again suggested Captain Hermann. 

" No, sir," replied Surgeon-major Lesage ; " you are 
wasting your time and mine. Invalid him, or don't in- 
valid him — that's for you to decide ; but I warn you that if 
you don't invalid him I shall make him finish his term in 
hospital." 

'' Come on, Hermann," said the Major, half asleep, 
" we have a lot of others to see ; let us vote — I want my 
lunch." 

"What do you say?" asked Surgeon-major Lesage 
from the youngest Lieutenant. 

'' Oh, invalid him," he quickly replied. 

'' Yes," said the next Lieutenant. 

*' Yes," said his neighbour. 

'' No," replied the fourth Lieutenant, who sat near 
Captain Hermann. 

'* Decidedly not," said my Captain. 

This looked bad ; two nays to three ayes. 

" Better invalid him," said the second Captain. 

" By all means," murmured the Major with his eyes 
shut. 

I was no longer a trooper ! I thought I was going to 
faint. 

" Invalidation No. i ? " queried the doctor. 

" Yes, yes," the Major cried, striking his chair with his 

fist ; " but d it, let us go on. I want my lunch, and 

I am ofif if you don't hurry up." 

A form was filled in by the dispensary Corporal acting 
as clerk : this was signed, and the doctor told me that my 
papers would be handed over to me in the evening. 

When I came out there was no need to ask me what the 
result was : it was written on my face. 

279 



TROOPER 3809 

" Must I congratulate you ? " asked the Sergeant. 

" Yes," I said, shaking him by the hand ; " but tell me," 
I added, " what does ' Invalidation No. i ' mean? " 

" You don't mean to say that they have granted you 
that ! Why, man alive ! it means a pension of £24 a year 
for life!" 

I was astounded. Half an hour later the Commission 
had retired, and I suggested stopping at a cafe on our way 
back to barracks. The Sergeant assented, and I offered 
him and my comrades a bottle of champagne to celebrate 
this glorious day — the happiest day in my existence, I be- 
lieve. When I returned to the barracks I met Sergeant 
de Cormet in the yard. 

" Where are you coming from ? " he cried : " I thought 
that you were at the infirmary." 

*' Yes, Sergeant, but I have just come from a turn in the 
town." 

'* We shall see about that," he answered. 

" I went out on duty. Sergeant." 

*' I'll make sure of that ; but in any case," he sneered, 
" you won't be always at the infirmary, and when you 
come out you will soon find yourself in the wrong 
box." 

i " I don't think so. Sergeant," I said, laughing ; " in fact, 
I am going to Paris to-night." 

" With whose leave, please? " 

" Superior authorities," I said. 

" If you mean to laugh at me," he replied in angry tones, 
" I shall have you consigned to prison." 

" No, Sergeant, no more Salle de Police, prison, or cells 
for me — in fact, in case I do not see you again, I shall wish 
you good-bye now, or rather au rcvoir, as I hope I may 
meet you soon. You see I am no longer a Dragoon : I 
have just been invalided." 

280 



TROOPER 3809 

" It can't be," he said, astounded. " I should have 
heard of your being proposed for invalidation^ 

" You don't hear everything," I repHed ; " but if you 
don't beHeve me, here comes the dispensary Corporal, and 
he has my papers." 

He did not add a word, and went off shrugging his 
shoulders eloquently. 

The news soon spread through the barracks and many 
were the congratulations I received. 

In the afternoon the Surgeon-major came to the in- 
firmary, where I expressed my deep thanks to him. He 
told me that I should have to sleep in the barracks again 
that night, as an error had been made in drawing up my 
papers, a pension having been granted to me by mistake. 
As to this I was quite indifferent, for I would willingly 
have given more than iiooo to have secured my release. 
The Surgeon-major also advised me to be very careful un- 
til I had received my papers, and changed my uniform for 
civilian clothes, for until this was done I was still under 
military law. The following morning my papers were 
handed over to me, and I returned all my outfit to the 
regimental stores, making a present to Titi and Piatte 
of all such uniforms and kit as were my personal prop- 
erty. 

I gave twenty francs to the troopers of my pcloton to 
drink my health, and I did not forget my friends Titi and 
Piatte. I then took leave of my Sergeants, gave a parting 
kiss to my charger, and stepped into the street, a free man 
at last. Half an hour later I had discarded my uniform 
for ever. Not only had I ceased to be a Dragoon, but I 
had also altogether ceased to belong to the French 
army. 

A fortnight later I arrived in England, a country I al- 
ready loved, and, ever since, my life has been spent in trav- 

281 



TROOPER 3809 

elling through the vast domains of the British Empire ; 
and I feel proud to think that it has fallen to my lot to be 
numbered among those who have helped to enlighten 
Englishmen on the glorious work of those great men who 
have laid the foundation of a gigantic African Empire. 



282 



CONCLUSION 

It will probably be believed by many readers that In de- 
scribing my life as a soldier I have at times given the reins 
to my imagination ; but I can only assure them that this 
is not the case. I have, fortunately or unfortunately, an 
excellent memory, and the scenes and conversations I 
have described are ineffaceably engraved on my mind. 

That much of my narrative is occupied with the con- 
stantly recurring punishments that befell me, is not my 
fault — to have slurred over those punishments would have 
been to paint a misleading picture of my military career, 
its most salient feature being omitted. 

It cannot, at all events, be said with any plausibility that 
my lot must unfortunately have been cast amongst the 
scum of the French army. The scum, if any exist, is not 
to be sought in a cavalry regiment. 

Let me, with reference to this point, briefly indicate the 
relative status of the three great branches of the service 
from an educational point of view. Although it is now 
possible to secure a commission through the ranks almost 
as quickly as through the military schools, a preliminary 
liberal education is absolutely necessary, especially in the 
cavalry and artillery, as most difficult examinations have 
to be passed, and the successful candidates must then 
spend one year in a special military school, as St. Maixant 
for the infantry, and Saumur for the cavalry. Before leav- 
ing the school a final examination has also to be passed in 

283 



TROOPER 3809 

order to obtain a commission. In case of failure in this, 
candidates are allowed to remain for another year in the 
school, but, if they are unable to pass at the end of that 
time, they are sent back to their regiment. 

To become an officer without passing through the ranks 
it is necessary to be admitted to the St. Cyr military 
school for the infantry and cavalry, and to the Ecole Poly- 
technique for the artillery. At the end of the second year 
at St. Cyr a competitive examination is undergone, and 
only those who are at the head of the list have the choice 
between cavalry and infantry. Those who are thus ad- 
mitted to serve in the cavalry, spend their third year in 
a class apart from the Cadets who are to become officers 
in the Line. At the end of the third year the Cadets pass 
a final examination, after which they receive their com- 
mission. Those who are drafted into the Line at once 
join a regiment, while those who serve in the cavalry have 
to spend another year in the cavalry school of Saumur 
before joining. It will therefore be seen that cavalry 
officers are, educationally, picked men. 

This applies still more strikingly to artillery officers, 
for these have all passed through the Polytechnic School, 
the highest engineering school in France. After leaving 
the Polytechnic they spend a year at the artillery school 
of Fontainebleau, whence they are drafted into a regi- 
ment as full Lieutenants. There are cases of artillery 
officers having worked their way to a commission through 
the ranks, but these instances are quite exceptional, and 
it is very seldom that such officers reach a higher rank 
than that of Captain. On the contrary, a large percentage 
of the infantry officers get their commission through the 
ranks. 

That improvements have been eflfected since my time I 
gladly admit. The reforms instituted by the much-abused 

284 



TROOPER 3809 

General Boulanger have been already touched upon, and 
their value must not be underestimated. 

To quote but a few of them — he abolished the Salle de 
Police for non-commissioned officers, replacing it by con- 
finement to the room. He extended from lo p.m. to ii 
P.M. the time at which non-commissioned officers had to 
be back in barracks, this time being extended to midnight 
in the case of re-enlisted N.C.O.s. He allowed the latter 
a higher pay, a separate room, and the right of wearing 
clothes made of fine cloth of the same quality as that worn 
by the officers, and gave non-commissioned officers the 
right to live outside the barracks. He then withdrew 
from Corporals, Sergeants, and other non-commissioned 
officers the right of punishing privates with Salle de Police, 
the only punishment they can now inflict being confinement 
to barracks. 

Unfortunately, however, these regulations can be easily 
evaded, for when a Corporal or a Sergeant wants to send 
a man to the Salle de Police he has only to report him to 
the Lieutenant of the Week, who hardly ever fails to put 
down whatever punishment the Corporal or non-commis- 
sioned officer asks him to inflict ; or, again, if a Corporal 
or non-commissioned officer wants to have a man pun- 
ished with Salle de Police he has only to give the fellow 
the maximum number of days of " C.B." (confinement to 
barracks) he is allowed to give, and justify the punish- 
ment by a strong motive, and in that case the Captain 
will never fail to transform the punishment into lock- 
up. 

General Boulanger also added much to the comfort of 
privates and Corporals, by ordering that they should have 
their meals served at table and presided over by a Corporal. 
The food of the ten to twelve men sitting at each table 
was to be served in a dish, portions being distributed 

285 



TROOPER 3809 

to each man on an enamelled plate by the Corporal or 
table president. ' This regulation, which has remained in 
force ever since, introduces a great improvement on the 
way we were fed in my time — as will be obvious from 
my previous description. Last, but not least, General 
Boulanger fixed at 9 p.m. instead of 8 p.m., the time at 
which privates had to return to barracks in the evening. 
The General's extraordinary popularity is therefore hardly 
to be wondered at if one remembers that every French- 
man has to be a soldier. 

It is, of course, quite clear that one of the greatest blots 
in the system I have described — that is to say, the system 
actually adopted, and not the ideal one depicted in the 
regulations — is that the cavalry officers trust almost en- 
tirely to the Sergeants to look after the drill, discipline, and 
comfort of their men. During my twenty months' ser- 
vice the Colonel did not come fifty times to the barracks, 
and then rarely stayed there for an hour at a time. Ex- 
cept during the general yearly inspection, the Lieutenant- 
Colonel or Majors did not pass once a month through our 
rooms, and then merely marched through them in a per- 
functory manner. 

The Captain in command of my squadron sometimes, it 
is true, came to our room, usually on the weekly inspec- 
tion day, but a fortnight or three weeks often elapsed 
between his visits. My Lieutenant came to our room on 
the weekly inspection day, but rarely at other times. None 
of our officers ever came to look at our food. 

As to the drill, until the squadron drilled together the 
officers hardly ever troubled themselves about it. Dur- 
ing the first five months' preliminary training, troopers 
were left entirely to the care of the Sergeants and Cor- 
porals, the Lieutenants looking on for perhaps a few min- 
utes at a time. When, in April, the troopers began to be 

286 



TROOPER 3809 

drilled in squares marked out on the manoeuvring ground, 
the officers used to ride over there, and every quarter of 
an hour or so glanced at the square where their men 
were riding under the command of a Sergeant. '* Stables " 
were superintended by the officer of the week, but as in 
the I St and 2nd squadrons (as well as in the 4th and 5th) 
one officer took the week in turn for the two combined 
squadrons, he could not be expected to see much of what 
was going on, among the 250 horses or thereabouts he 
had to superintend. Lieutenants and Sub-lieutenants, ex- 
cept when they were on " week " duty, never came to the 
stables, so that really everything devolved on the Ser- 
geants, whose power and responsibility were consequently 
enormous. 

Another consequence of the French military system is 
that officers and rank and file alike are absolutely wanting 
in that esprit de corps which is so remarkable in British 
regiments. That privates should feel no particular pride 
in the body to which tliey are temporarily, and for the 
most part unwillingly, attached, is not to be w^ondered at, 
but in the case of officers a different explanation is forth- 
coming. 

Strange to say, it is a general rule in the French army 
that officers, on their promotion to a superior rank, are 
always sent into another regiment (the only exception 
occurring in the case of Sub-lieutenants, who sometimes 
— but rarely — remain in the same regiment upon their 
promotion to the rank of Lieutenant). The consequence 
of this rule is that an officer who reaches the rank of 
Colonel has often served in six different regiments. It 
even often happens, for instance, that a Lieutenant of 
Dragoons is drafted into the Hussars on his promotion 
as a Captain, and then passes into the Cuirassiers when 
he becomes a Major, being transferred to the Chasseurs as 

237 



TROOPER 3809 

Lieutenant-Colonel, and then being put in command of a 
regiment of Dragoons as Colonel. 

The hard-and-fast lines of social distinction which are 
drawn between officers of different ranks are also fatal 
obstacles to the corporate well-being of the regiment. 
The idea, for instance, that Captains would demean them- 
selves if they sat at the same table with Lieutenants and 
Sub-lieutenants, and that Majors must also form a sepa- 
rate mess, hinders social intercourse between officers of 
the different ranks, and seems almost to indicate the pos- 
sibility of subalterns forgetting themselves in the pres- 
ence of their superior officers. How different the Eng- 
lish system, where all officers mess together, meeting in 
the simple equality of gentlemen ! 

There is a general idea in France that German soldiers 
are subjected to a much stricter discipline than French 
soldiers, and that German officers may strike their men 
and treat them like slaves. I believe this was so at the 
time of the Franco-Prussian War, for I then saw such 
acts of barbarity committed by officers ; but the present 
system is very different. To begin with, no punishment 
can be inflicted by a non-commissioned officer or even by a 
Lieutenant, Captains alone having the right to punish ; and 
I even saw a case, during one of my numerous visits to 
Germany, when the Captain commanding a company was 
severely reprimanded by his Colonel, who withdrew from 
him the right of punishment altogether, because tnere 
were too many men punished under his command ; the 
Colonel arguing, with much force, that if an offi. ild 

not maintain discipline without constantly punishing his 
men it proved that he did not know ho'y to deal with 
soldiers, and that therefore he was unfit to decide whether 
a man ought to be punished or not. 

So far as my punishments are concerned I have no wish 

288 



TROOPER 3809 

to pose as a martyr, and I acknowledge that some of 
them were deserved ; but if I had been treated Hke a free 
human being and not hke a convict — if I had not been 
buHied, as weh as unjustly and unduly punished — I should 
not have become — as I did — desperate, caring little 
whether I was punished or not. I fully understand and 
excuse the motives which prompt so many men to desert 
— men who have neither position nor reputation to main- 
tain — and I frankly declare that, rather than have served 
another year, I would have become a deserter myself. 

Had war broken out when I was a trooper I am quite 
sure that the first battle would have resulted in the death 
of at least three of our officers and four of our Sergeants, 
and that they would not have fallen under the enemy's 
bullets. This may be a terrible thing to say, but I knew 
two troopers who were determined to do the deed. It 
was not mere brag, for it was by accident that I heard 
them more than once discussing the matter. 

In my own case I am persuaded that my Captain and 
my Colonel, relying blindly on the N.C.O.s, were honestly 
convinced that I was a bad character. Five years after I 
left the regiment I met one of my former officers, who was 
then military attache to one of the embassies. He did 
not recognise me, and did not catch my name. In the 
course of conversation I inquired whether he had known 
a man named Decle, who had served in his regiment. 

" Don't I remember him ! " he said. '' He Vv^as a most 
incorrigible rogue ! My friend Captain Hermann often 
spoke to me about him : he was a fellow who would never 
do any work, and who was most ungrateful. Although 
fairly intelligent, he worked so little that he was classed 
List at the final examination, and they had to keep him a 
second year. I remember that there was some talk of 
sending him before a court-martial, as he once made seri- 

289 



TROOPER 3809 

oils false allegations against his Sergeant-major. Alto- 
gether he was a bad lot. Do you know what has become 
of him?" I replied in the affirmative, and the military 
attache asked me somewhat anxiously if I knew him well. 

" He is my best friend," I replied, " and you are now 
talking to him." The attache looked much embarrassed, 
but I soon put him at his ease, and assured him that I 
was in no way offended. I told him exactly what had 
happened, and he acknowledged that it was too true that, 
in many cases, officers formed their opinion entirely from 
Sergeants' reports, *' but," he added helplessly, " what else 
can we do ? " And he really seemed to think the question 
unanswerable. 

I had a good opportunity of personally observing the 
practical working of French military organisation at the 
time of the Madagascar war. 

Everything w^as at sixes and sevens. 

Plans were made one day and altered the next ; the 
Minister of War wanted one thing, the Commander-in- 
Chief wanted another ; and if these two high authorities 
had not been seconded by two of the most admirable and 
practical officers in the French service (General de Torcy 
and Major, now General, Bailloud), things would have 
gone even worse than they did. The Intelligence De- 
partment, too, was conspicuous by its lack of information. 
The French military authorities did me the honour to con- 
sult me on many points, but unfortunately, as it turned 
out, the advice I gave w^as rejected by General Mercier, 
then Minister of War. I was asked to give my opinion 
about transport in general, and I first asked how many 
white men would take part in the Expedition, and in- 
quired how the transport of supplies would be organised. 
The answer was that 6000 iron carts, drawn by mules, 
would be used for the service. I pointed out that the 

290 



TROOPER 3809 

use of such carts would be absolute madness, as I knew 
by my own experience how easily iron carts are broken, 
and how impossible it is to repair them, and I added that 
under the circumstances the army would never be able 
to go forward unless a road was made. I then inquired 
how the soldiers' knapsacks would be carried, and Gen- 
eral Duchesne, the Commander-in-Chief of the Expedi- 
tion, to whom I put this question, replied that " of course 
the men would carry them themselves." " In that case," 
I said, " you may reckon that one half of your force will 
have died within six months of their landing in Mada- 
gascar." 

The General said that it was all nonsense — that the men 
had carried their knapsacks in the Tonkin War, and 
could do so quite well in Madagascar. 

My prediction unfortunately turned out perfectly cor- 
rect, and nearly six thousand men died within six months 
of the beginning of the operations. A road had to be 
made for the iron carts, and if the natives had not proved 
arrant cowards, the war would have ended in a frightful 
disaster. It was only due to the untiring energy of Col- 
onel Bailloud, who was in charge of the transport, that the 
troops were enabled to receive any supplies. 

What struck me most, however, in that expedition was 
the jealousy between the Army and the Navy. 

During the Tonkin War, the supreme command of the 
naval and military forces had been vested in Admiral 
Corbet, and the military officers strongly objected to be- 
ing commanded by a sailor. In order, therefore, to avoid 
a repetition of what had then taken place, the whole of 
the flotilla which w^as sent to Madagascar was placed un- 
der the command of a mere Captain, who had to take 
orders from the General commanding the troops. The 
Navy, of course, resented what they considered a slight, 

291 



TROOPER 3809 

and carefully avoided helping the Army in any way. Of 
course they did not openly display their rivalry, but they 
took good care to give no help whatever to the Military 
Chiefs, allowing them to commit the greatest blunders 
v\'ithout warning them beforehand. For instance, the 
War Office having decided to use the River Betsiboka as 
far as it was navigable, a large number of steel barges 
were sent over to Menjunka, which was supposed to be 
at the mouth of the river. Unfortunately, the real mouth 
of the river stood nearly thirty miles farther inland, so 
that unless the weather was perfectly calm the barges 
were swamped before they had reached the river itself ; 
the water on the other hand bei:ig too shallow to enable 
steamers, except those of the snallest draft, to reach the 
mouth. When I arrived in Mrulagascar, in a small i8o 
ton steamer I had chartered in Zanzibar, I was ordered to 
follow the course of the river as far as I could go, and to 
make a survey on my way, as none existed. After con- 
siderable trouble I managed to get about seventy miles 
inland, and on my return to Menjunka, as I was making 
my report to the General, the naval officer in command 
walked into the room just as I was asking the General 
whether he could allow me 24 hours to put my survey on 
paper. The naval officer inquired what survey I was 
speaking of, and on being told that it was a survey of the 
river, he replied that I had been wasting my time, as his 
officers *' had surveyed it long ago, long ago " ; and he 
added that he would send it to the General when he re- 
turned to his ship. He knew perfectly well, before I left, 
that I had been instructed to make a survey, but he had 
never offered to hand over to the General the map he had 
in his possession. 

Again the Naval Commander was fully av/are that a 
large number of transports were coming, but he carefully 

292 



TROOPER 3809 

abstained from advising- the War Office that there was 
only one steam launch at Menjunka to land the cargo, and 
the consequence was that at one time there lay as many as 
24 steamers in the harbour, with no means of unloading 
them ; an average of £200 per day having to be paid for 
demurrage on each. I could quote scores of similar in- 
stances, but it is not my object to write the history of the 
Madagascar campaign. 

In conclusion, Englishmen regard their own *' little 
army " with a just pride, tempered by a consciousness of 
its more or less obvious defects ; but when any compari- 
son is suggested between the British forces and the 
*' bloated armaments " of the Continent, the pride is apt 
to become humility, and deprecatory remarks are made to 
the effect that we do not, of course, profess to be a great 
military power. 

Yet how does the case really stand ? Are these armed 
multitudes as formidable as mere arithmetic would have 
us think ? France, for instance, prides herself upon being 
able to put in the field millions of trained men. What 
does this boast amount to? Upon the outbreak of war, 
in these days of rapid mobilisation, much — perhaps all — 
would depend upon the troops first in the field. And 
these troops, upon wdiose behaviour in the brunt of sud- 
den battle the salvation of their country might depend, 
would be — not a body of well-trained fighting-men, leav- 
ened with veterans, and relying on their leaders with glad 
confidence — but a crowd of half-taught lads, lacking in 
thews as well as training, and led — or driven — to battle by 
officers whom either they have never seen until the day of 
conflict, or whom they know — and hate. 

As for the reserves, suffice it to say that officers of the 
active army refuse to regard them seriously, and consider 
them merely in the light of civilians playing at soldiering. 

293 



TROOPER 3809 

The officers of the reserve (for the most part promoted 
privates) have received no miHtary education worthy of 
the name. The non-commissioned officers and men con- 
sider the month they have to serve every other year a 
hateful episode. Awkward in their unaccustomed uni- 
forms, they do not even look like soldiers, and it would 
take months of training to convert them into such once 
more. In point of efficiency they are, of course, far in- 
ferior to our Volunteers. 

But behind these stands yet another " line of defence " 
— the territorial army and its reserve — an army composed 
of men who have a faint recollection that they once were 
drilled. There is something pathetic, as well as absurd, 
in picturing these middle-aged citizens in time of war, 
clad in antiquated uniforms, handling unaccustomed 
weapons, and painfully, if conscientiously, struggling to 
acquire a knowledge of new regulations and modern drill. 
To sum all up, it may be true that Providence is still on 
the side of the big battalions, but chiefly, we think, when 
those battalions are well officered, well trained, and ani- 
mated with all the virtues of the soldier. 



294 



APPENDIX A 

No allusion has been made in the Introduction to the pay 
of officers, nor to the actual cost of the keep of troopers. 
Being unable to find any documents on which to base my 
calculations, I appealed to M. Urbain Gohier, the French 
writer whose authority on this subject is the greatest, and 
I append the reply which he very kindly sent me : 

[Translation.] 

Paris, April 8, 1899. 

Dear Sir, 

Subjoined are the chief items of the budget for 
pay — which is the same in all branches of the service so 
far as officers are concerned. 

As to the average cost of the soldier for maintenance, 
food, &c., it is impossible to arrive at it. 

Figures have been given from time to time, but they 
are purely imaginary. 

Expenses of all kinds are scattered under twenty dif- 
ferent headings in our budget, and the Reporter-General 
for that of 1899 has announced that nobody, either at the 
War Office or in Parliament, can accurately dissect the 
expenditure. 

The actual pay — of which I give you the amounts — is 
in practice augmented by a mass of '' indemnities," so- 
called, for residence, travelling, mustering, lodging, high 
price of food, office expenses, maintenance of dignity, first 
equipment, &c., varying with the nature of the employ- 
ment and the individuals employed. 

295 



APPENDIX A 



r'^ 



Some officers draw their bare pay, whilst others ma' 
a large income, of which no ofiicial trace can anywhere be 
found. 

Similarly, in the case of the men : the cost of provisions, 
firing, lighting, sleeping accommodation, medical treat- 
ment in or out of hospital, is reckoned in a lump sum, 
without distinction between different branches of the ser- 
vice. 

This extraordinary confusion is cunningly contrived to 
prevent any control. 

These are the items of pay : 

FRANCS. 

Colonel 8564.21 

Lieutenant-colonel 6934.74 

Major and Chef d'Escadron 5797-90 

Captain 322 1 .05 

1st Lieutenant 2842.1 1 

2nd Lieutenant 2652.63 

Sub-lieutenant 2463.16 

Adjudant 1022.00 

Sergeant-major 511.00 

Sergeant 401.50 

Farrier 346-75 

Corporal 200.75 

Trumpeter 127.75 

Trooper 109.50 

(The N.C.O.s have 91.25 francs extra in the field.) 
Note the exactitude of the above figures to a single 
centime, and yet there may be in addition hundreds or 
even thousands of francs handled in reality, either in 
money or in kind. 

Always, &c., 

(Signed) URBAIN GOHIER. 
296 



APPENDIX A 

I leave to M. Gohier the whole responsibility for these 
statements, as I am not in a position to test their cor- 
rectness. I may add, however, that French officers, what- 
ever their faults, have always seemed to me remarkably 
straightforward in money matters, and even M. Gohier — 
whom I cannot follow in his virulent attacks upon all 
officers indiscriminately — has never even hinted that any 
of them enrich themselves by dishonourable means. 



297 



APPENDIX B 

Accused persons are examined by a Jiige d'instruction 
(examining magistrate) in camera. Prisoners are con- 
sidered guilty until they can prove their innocence. The 
examining magistrate can use any means he likes to obtain 
a confession ; he can send a prisoner to solitary confine- 
ment {an secret) for weeks, if he chooses. He collects all 
information respecting the prisoner, bewilders him, lies 
to him if he thinks fit, and can keep him for months in 
confinement, before committing him for trial or releasing 
him. 

In most of the cases which would be disposed of in 
England by a Police Magistrate, within twenty-four hours 
of arrest, the accused is kept, in France, for a period of 
from one to three months under lock and key, before being 
tried by the Police Correctionnelle (Police Court), and in 
case of crimes which have to be tried by a jury the pre- 
liminary inquiry or instruction lasts from three to eighteen 
months. Three or four years ago in one of the celebrated 
cases which ended in an acquittal, the instruction of the 
case lasted eighteen months, during the whole of which 
time the accused was kept in prison, being for a consider- 
able period, in the strictest solitary confinement. 

It is only during the last two years that a new law has 
been passed, enabling accused persons to be assisted by 
counsel during the instruction — counsel being present 
during the examination of the accused. Formerly, the 

298 



\ 



APPENDIX B 

accused was not allowed to be assisted by counsel until 
the examination was closed. 

As I said before, bail does not exist in France, except 
in rare instances with the approval of the Minister for 
Justice. In such cases bail takes the form of a deposit 
in cash, usually amounting to many hundreds or even 
thousands of pounds. 

The Jiigc d'uistructioii can, however, release a prisoner 
ofif hand, or grant him provisional liberty, but this is also 
very rarely done. 

Limitation in the case of criminal offences, however, 
exists in France. For offences which entail a maximum 
punishment of five years' imprisonment, no prosecution 
can take place after a lapse of three years from the date 
of the commission of the crime. 

In the case of felonies (even in the case of murder), no 
prosecution can take place after thirty years have elapsed 
since the crime was committed. 

On the other hand, if a citizen is accused of any crime 
or felony, and he absconds, he can be tried and sentenced 
par contumace in his absence. 



299 



APPEN DIX C 

Constitution of a Squadron. 

Captain in Command. 

Second Captain. 



1st Peloton 

(30 men) 

1st Lieutenant 

(In command) 

Sergeant-Major 

2 Sergeants 

Trumpeter 



2nd Peloton 

(30 men) 
Sub-lieutenant 
(In command) 

Sergeant 

Capora I- foil rr'ier 

Trumpeter 



2)rd Peloton 

(30 men) 

Sub-lieutenant 

(In command) 

Sergeant 

Trumpeter 



4M Peloton 

(30 men) 

2nd Lieutenant 

(In command) 

Sergent-fouo'rier 

2 Sergeants 

Trumpeter 



Each peloton (company) consists of three esconades 
(squads) of ten men, each under a corporal. 

Total. 



2 Captains. 


I Caporal-fonrrier. 


2 Lieutenants. 


6 Sergeants. 


2 Sub-Heutenants. 


12 Corporals. 


I Sergeant-major. 


4 Trumpeters. 


I Sergent-fourrier. 


120 Troopers. 



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